Yesterday emergency service workers stood shoulder-to-shoulder to honour the memory of a fallen colleague.

PC Andrew Harper died in the line of duty while responding to reports of a burglary on his patch.

The newlywed, who had just set out on his marital journey, had his life cut short attending to a routine call which he had probably done hundreds of times.

Not only did his colleagues at Thames Valley come together to mourn, so did officers up and down the country, and right here in Cumbria.

Police officers and staff were joined by firefighters outside the force's HQ in Barrow, where tributes were paid to PC Harper.

Inspector Sara Seath summed up the solidarity perfectly by saying: “We’re here today to send out a message that if you hurt one of us, you hurt all of us."

The show of allegiance also sends a firm message that 999 workers will not tolerate incidents of abuse or attacks.

Too many times we hear about thugs who think it's OK to target the brave men and women who go out of their way to keep our communities safe and well day after day.

As a community we can play our part in preventing these attacks.

We must show our lack of tolerance towards this sort of behaviour and question those who feel they are above the law.