Jail Should Be Mandatory For Assaulting Emergency Workers

PEOPLE who assault police officers, especially during the coronavirus crisis, should automatically go to prison.

That is the view of South Yorkshire Police Federation, after national figures showed a 14% year-on-year increase in assaults on 999 workers since lockdown began.

Chairman Steve Kent said there had been a rise in the number of South Yorkshire officers being assaulted since the beginning of lockdown.

He said: “I don’t know why it’s happening. Whether it’s that the undesirable elements within our communities are more frustrated and so are wanting to lash out and obviously police officers are the few people they come across, I don’t know. But there’s no doubt I’ve seen a rise in it.

“We see on a pretty much bi-weekly basis that an officer has been assaulted one way or another.

“The thing that concerns me about it is that there’s no consistency with the sentencing. We’ve seen a handful of cases where cops have been coughed at, spat at, and they’ve received suspended sentences and they’ve even received curfews during a lockdown. What’s the point of that? That’s a complete waste of time.

“In other cases we’ve seen the courts come down hard and people have received custodial sentences, which I welcome, but for me it has to be mandatory and automatic. Everybody talks about protecting our emergency services during this crisis. Well, we need to make no exceptions. Guilty, prison, the end. That’s how it needs to be. Simple as that.”

Figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) show there has been a spike in assaults on emergency workers, even though overall crime has fallen by a quarter since lockdown began in March. Data from the Crown Prosecution Service reveals that there were 313 prosecutions for assaults on emergency workers in the first month of lockdown.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has said she is looking to double the maximum prison sentence for such offenders to two years.

Steve said he supported this measure, adding: “It would definitely be appreciated. But the existing sentences are there, they’re just not being used.”

Steve described handing out custodial sentences for assaults on officers as a “postcode lottery”, with neighbouring force Derbyshire sending more offenders to prison than South Yorkshire. He said people going to prison for coughing at a police officer during the Covid-19 crisis “sends out a great message and is a great deterrent”.

He added: “Our message to officers is we will continue to back you. We’ll continue to push this as much as we possibly can. Our views are that people need to come down hard on this in the courts, and we won’t rest as a Federation until sentences start to reflect the crimes. Assaults on police officer, prison. It’s the only way we’re going to deal with this.”