Chairman: We must see mandatory sentences for those who assault police officers

MANDATORY sentences must be handed down to the ‘idiots’ who assault police officers, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

National figures show assaults on officers went up by 10% in November compared to the same month in 2019. CPS statistics reveal that assaults on emergency workers were the most common coronavirus-related crime.

Following last spring’s lockdown, 1,688 out of 6,500 offences were classed by the CPS as Assaults on emergency workers between 1 April and 30 September last year.

South Yorkshire Police officers suffered an increase of 55% attacks last summer compared to the same period the year before.

The stats have renewed calls for mandatory sentences to be given to those who choose to assault officers.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said the problem had been exacerbated by curfews and suspended sentences being handed down for the despicable crime.

“Early on in COVID people were getting suspended sentences and curfews which was ridiculous,” Steve said.

“In late summer last year we saw assaults on our officers rise by 55% on the year before. It’s a massive difference.

“There needs to be mandatory sentences for assaults on emergency workers involving an injury rather than an aspirational one.

“I do welcome that sentences are being made harsher, but it doesn’t mean that the judges and the magistrates are going to take that line.

“A mandatory sentence for a conviction of assaulting a police officer is going to be the only thing that gets into the heads of these idiots out there who repeatedly assault officers, spit at officers, cough at officers.”

Sentences of six months would act as deterrent Steve said and should make would-be assaulters think twice.

“They’ll only do it once with a sentence of automatic six months for what they see as a low assault on an officer,” he said.

“I understand it’s a challenging time at the minute with COVID, but it’s not good enough. We need to protect the people out there who are enforcing this lockdown and are trying to protect the public.

“I will never go more than a day or two without seeing an officer’s been assaulted while either making an arrest or while trying to help somebody.

“It happens all the time, sadly. It’s not decreasing, and there needs to be a change in public opinion and an opinion amongst the judiciary types to deal with this robustly.”