Protect the Protectors law ‘a step in the right direction’

SOUTH Yorkshire Police Federation has welcomed a new law that has promised to better protect emergency workers from attack.

The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act, which came into being this month, creates a new aggravated offence of an assault against a member of the emergency services and doubles the maximum sentence from six to 12 months.

The new law will mean offenders will no longer be able to get away “scot free” after they take on a police officer, but there is still more work to be done, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Federation Chairman, Steve Kent, said: “This is a step in the right direction. Does it go far enough? Probably not but it’s a start and hopefully when sentences start getting dealt out it might serve as a bit of a deterrent for offenders who before were being given very lenient sentences for violent assaults on officers.”

An offender who punched and spat blood at South Yorkshire’s PC Dean Portman was given a 14-week suspended sentence before this law came into place.

Steve said: “Offenders seem to have been getting away scot free. Officers who are victims of common assaults at the hands of members of the public – they’ve been getting very little. If it attracts a more serious sentence it may well act as a deterrent, but we’re going to have to revisit this is a year or two’s time when the sentences have been dished out to see if it’s actually made any difference to assault numbers.”

Steve added: “Ultimately I want to see every assault on emergency service worker attract an aggravated status. From serious woundings, all the way down to common assaults – it should be an aggravated factor [if it is committed] against an emergency service worker.”