Northumbria Police will begin rolling out spitguards next week
The hoods have been branded "cruel" and "dangerous"
Northumbria Police will begin rolling out controversial spitguards next week, in a bid to protect their officers from abusive suspects.
The force says they received 341 reports of officers being spat at last year.
The spit guard is a single-use mesh fabric guard with a polyethylene front panel. The material used allows the person to still be able to see and hear what is going on.
Police and detention officers will be given their personal issue spit guard at the end of their training.
The force says guards can help resolve a situation using a lower use of force than alternative restraint - so are in fact better for the subject concerned.
Thirty-six forces currently use spit guards in the UK, with no reported complaints from any of those forces in 2017.
They've been approved nationally by the National Police Chiefs' Council and supported by the GMB, Unison and Police Federation unions.
However, spitguards have proved controversial in the past, with human rights campaigners branding them a "cruel and dangerous form of restraint."
Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Bacon says they've listened to people's concerns:
"Obviously, staff and officers have seen conversations taking place around spit guards nationally.
"We've been really careful to check the medical evidence, we've been careful in selecting which spit guard we introduce, we've been really clear about the training we're giving to officers so they absolutely understand when they can use spit guards."