St John Ambulance officers have been subject to abuse and assaults all year - and the service wants to send a strong message for the festive season.
In Whanganui, ambulance staff suffer on average one abusive incident each week - "And that is one too many," said Whanganui St John operations manager John Stretton.
Statistics for the Central South region, which includes Whanganui and Ruapehu, Heretaunga, Manawatu and Horowhenua, show 317 incidents including 219 verbal and 98 physical attacks on crews.
Nationwide, frontline ambulance officers were hit, kicked, punched, spat at, and verbally abused nearly 3000 times last year. A third of cases involved physical aggression and violence with up to 10 incidents a month being serious enough for ambulance officers to need hospitalisation and ongoing treatment.
One paramedic had a bow and arrow pointed at his head, another had a knife held to him and told that if the seriously ill, unconscious patient died, so would he.