\u201cWE shouldn\u2019t have to be in the middle of a crisis for assaults on officers to be taken as seriously as they are being.\u201d<\/p>\n
Essex Police Federation is calling on tough sentences for those who assault police officers to continue once the COVID-19 pandemic has passed.<\/p>\n
Jail terms are starting to be handed down to those who have weaponised the virus by coughing on or spitting at officers on the frontline.<\/p>\n
And Chairman Steve Taylor hopes that stance will still be taken when things are back to some level of normality.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOur partners in the justice system have been supportive, and we are seeing very tough sentences being handed down to those that are stupid enough to attack emergency service workers in this way, which is how it always should be.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t have to be in the middle of a crisis for assaults on officers to be taken as seriously as they are being. So hopefully that will continue past the crisis and into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Incidents have occurred in Essex, but Steve said he was confident they had been dealt with in the right way.<\/p>\n
Nationally, the PFEW have called spitting and coughing on emergency workers during the crisis a \u2018vile assault\u2019 and badged perpetrators as the \u2018lowest form of life.\u2019<\/p>\n
Chair John Apter said: \u201cThese are the sort of vile, disgusting individuals that my colleagues have to deal with daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy this is different, is this virus is so contagious and so deadly, and there is a real sense of fear out there. Those who weaponise this virus are the lowest form of life \u2013 they deserve every day they spend in prison.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing these individuals continuing to abuse and spit and cough at not only my colleagues but paramedics, nurses and others \u2013 it\u2019s disgusting, and they need to be made an example of.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"