I'm sure A&E departments in hospitals get their share of violence too but in my experience, its actually at its worst in acute psychiatric wards. Violence and assaults are sadly far too common and I'm sure there's a massive amount of under-reporting going on as many nurses view it as part of their job. As for involving the police, dream on. They won't do anything as the person who has just smacked you in the face, or attempted to come at you with broken glass has "mental health issues." Certainly, if they are genuinely "mad" and not responsible for their actions then fair enough as they'll be "assisted" to the floor and injected. However, its the ones who are "bad" that really piss me off as they play the system. They know the police will never charge them as they have "mental health issues" and basically can do what they want. Acute psychiatric wards tend to attract these sort of people and they're always nightmare patients and nasty pieces of work. And as for drug dealers targeting the wards, don't get me started!!!