Prison sentences should be mandatory for assaults that cause injury to emergency services workers, according to South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
New figures show that 22,421 police officers were injured through \u2018an intentional or unintentional assault\u2019 last year.<\/p>\n
The Government figures for the past financial year also reveal that, on 391,202 occasions, police officers needed to use force to protect themselves.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: \u201cThe only way that you\u2019re going to start to turn this around is to give mandatory sentences for any assaults involving injuries on police officers or emergency service workers across the board \u2013 they get a mandatory prison sentence, because that\u2019s a headline, that\u2019s a buzzword, and then it\u2019s in people\u2019s mindsets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ll think: \u2018If I punch this cop, if I punch this paramedic, if I punch this nurse and they get a black eye, I\u2019m going to prison.\u2019 That is the culture that needs to change, because there\u2019s absolutely no doubt that people are more willing to carry out assaults on officers at the minute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve said that in South Yorkshire they were getting these offenders into court, but that tough sentences weren\u2019t being handed down.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cIn South Yorkshire, I am massively reassured by the rates of charging and the rates of outcomes for officer assaults. They\u2019re very, very high, percentage-wise. So the issue isn\u2019t that we\u2019re not getting these people into court, the issue then comes into court where the sentences are just not giving that clear signposting.\u201d<\/p>\n