‘Jail People Who Injure Police’

There should be mandatory jail sentences for people who assault police officers and injure them, the Chair of South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

New figures show that, over the past year, UK police officers endured an appalling 55,954 assaults; that’s one assault every 10 minutes.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said the courts were not currently using the full sentencing powers available to them, and that there was no real deterrent for offenders.

He said: “This comes down to something I’ve said previously, and I’ll keep saying it because I think it’s more relevant than ever. We need to see mandatory prison sentences for an assault of a police officer that involves any kind of injury.

“If an officer’s been punched or, as in a case that I’m looking at today where an officer had his thumb nearly bitten off, those offenders should be sent to prison.”

He continued: “It’s really interesting that the vast majority of the public were pleased to see the tough sentences dealt out following the summer riots. There’s no two ways about it – those sentences are clearly going to act as a deterrent if something else happens again.

“Why can’t that be the case when our officers are getting violently assaulted in the streets, day in and day out?

“If people start getting sent to prison for six months, 12 months, two years for assaults on cops, it won’t take long for that message to get out among the people who are inclined to do this: that there are going to be consequences.

“We know the sentencing powers are there, but they’re not being used.

“We’ve had recent examples of officers who have been assaulted and the offenders have been given suspended sentences, or the charge has been put on file and there’s been no punishment. That gives people the green light to do this kind of thing.”