Given what they see and experience - the Saturday night fights, the routine calls that spin wildly out of control, the aggression, the threats, the danger - we should trust that when they speak up on something, it must be important enough for us to listen.

Police officer Alex Christian spoke up this week and it will be interesting to see what happens next.

Senior Constable Christian, a Police Association of NSW representative, talked to the media to remind our politicians that he still faces uncertainty after being bitten on the bicep while making an arrest in March.

He went to hospital after the arrest, had the bite wound cleaned and has had a blood test taken for transmittable diseases, but it will be some time until he is cleared.

And he asked a blunt question: "Why should I have to sit around for six months to find out whether or not I have a life-altering disease?"

Senior Constable Christian and the police union are asking for a change to the law so that those who bite or scratch or spit on an officer have to submit to a blood test so those questions about a life-altering disease can be answered straight away.

And the chances of that change to the law being made?

Police Minister David Elliott was hardly bullish, but he did say, encouragingly, that "any government should be open to reviewing its laws if they do not align with community expectations".

The police union, like any union, needs to pick its battles carefully if it wants to win support from the public and our politicians.

Ask for too much, on too many fronts, and the risk is that none of it will be achieved - and your voice will be diluted and your message drowned out in the process.

But carefully select a battle and really prosecute the case and there's a chance of making a meaningful change.

Giving police officers peace of mind after they've been bitten or scratched in the course of an arrest seems like the sort of battle that's worth fighting.

It's not something that most of us (who are safely tucked up in bed when officers are facing some of their most unpleasant jobs) can imagine experiencing - which is why it was worth hearing this week from someone who has.