Offenders Who Injure Police In Assaults Should Be Sent To Prison

Those who assault and injure police officers should be given a prison sentence, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said, as it was revealed that there were over 900 assaults on South Yorkshire officers last year.

New Government figures illustrate the alarming escalation in assaults against police officers in England and Wales, which are up 20,000 compared to a decade ago. Last year, 911 officers were assaulted in South Yorkshire, which equates to more than 17 every week.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “These figures don’t come as a surprise, as we see reports of injury to officers come across our desk every day.

“Very recently, we’ve seen the absolutely deplorable behaviour of people in Manvers, Rotherham. The difference is that those people received sentencing to match their offences. That has clearly served as a deterrent because it’s worked, it’s stopped the riots, it’s stopped any further disorder.

“So let’s go back to basics. If we apply that mechanism when it comes to injuring police officers day in, day out, we’ll have the same effect. An assault on a police officer that causes injury needs to have an automatic prison sentence.”

Steve continued: “It’s terrifying how often officers are being assaulted and how freely they’re being assaulted these days. Things aren’t going to get any better until the sentencing is sorted and there’s robust action against assaults on police.”