Inspector Zarins said comparatively, Griffith ambulance paramedics have less of a risk in encountering violent or dangerous situations then Wagga or Albury.

He said while it is unusual to have two incidents like these close together, it is not unheard of and didn’t point to a rise in violent incidents in Griffith.

“I was speaking to the paramedics who attended, and realistically it was nothing out of the ordinary for them,” Inspector Zarins said.

Chief Inspector Wadsworth says he hasn’t seen a case of out-and-out assault of an ambulance paramedic, but says there is always other factors involved – like mental health and/or intoxication.

“Quite often the case is not a simple matter of assaulting ambos, it involves another factor mental health,” Inspector Wadsworth said.

“We are fortunate in that – when issues arise are due to mental health – we have a great number of our police with special training from the Mental Health Intervention team which enables us to work closely with ambos in these situations.”

Over the years, Chief Inspector Wadsworth has seen more cases of people being “nuisances” and hindering paramedics treating people.

“Intoxication can play a part and for police it’s more of a nuisance factor, trying to keep people away from ambos trying to do their job,” Chief Inspector Wadsworth said.

“We can have people coming and trying to help not knowing what the situation is and being more of a nuisance and hindrance.”

“If someone's injured due to brawl and police give instruction, it’s paramount to listen to because the injured person needs attention quickly, and ambos don't have time to be arguing about who is right and wrong.”

Earlier in the year research conducted by Central Queensland University Professor Brian Maguire, a former ambulance officer, looked at 14 years of records from 2001 to 2014 and found injuries in the profession increased by over 700 per cent during that period.

However in his 29 years as a paramedic in Katoomba, Coleambally and Griffith, Inspector Zarins says his recent years in Griffith, no incident stands out for him as being unusually noteworthy. 

Inspector Zarins explains the situations where a police escort is required, and said Griffith has no set areas of town earmarked for compulsory police presence.

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“If there is some question over the potential safety over the paramedics when the calls are coming through, usually we’ll buddy up with the police as a rule,” Inspector Zarins said.

“They get assigned to incidents and depending on the report they get back or that we get back from them, it would obviously trigger an ongoing response to ensure they keep coming to that particular address.

“There are no places as far as I am aware in Wagga, Albury, Griffith, Young, or Deniliquin, there are no places we have any difficulties going to as in streets like we used to be in Redfern unless we had a police escort,” he said.

“But there are a number of addresses in Griffith - which is all we use - with safety warnings, but the problem is as soon as the person is out of their residence anywhere else, walking down the street, that is a challenging situation where you hope the paramedics know who it is and back off. It is difficult to always know.”

He says a lot comes down to street smarts and sometimes luck.

“Our people are always trained to be mindful of what they are walking into, because if you don’t have the street smarts and you don’t predict these things ahead and understand you always have to be cautious about any job no matter where or who it is,” Inspector Zarins said.

“It’s just street smarts and luck - you can be as cluey as you wish and in the end still end up unstuck.”

Inspector Wadsworth said in general around the MIA and country areas, “everyone understands how invaluable the ambos are and are very helpful.”