SOUTH\u00a0Yorkshire Police Federation has welcomed a new law that has promised to better protect emergency workers from attack.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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The new law will mean offenders will no longer be able to get away \u201cscot free\u201d after they take on a police officer, but there is still more work to be done, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.<\/p>\n
Federation Chairman, Steve Kent, said: \u201cThis is a step in the right direction. Does it go far enough? Probably not but it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
An offender who punched and spat blood at South Yorkshire\u2019s PC Dean Portman was given a 14-week suspended sentence before this law came into place.<\/p>\n
Steve said: \u201cOffenders seem to have been getting away scot free. Officers who are victims of common assaults at the hands of members of the public – they\u2019ve been getting very little. If it attracts a more serious sentence it may well act as a deterrent, but we\u2019re going to have to revisit this is a year or two\u2019s time when the sentences have been dished out to see if it\u2019s actually made any difference to assault numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve added: \u201cUltimately 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.\u201d<\/p>\n