IT won\u2019t matter if sentences for those who assault officers are doubled if the courts don\u2019t hand down the tougher tariffs, Essex Police Federation has warned.<\/p>\n
Home Secretary Priti Patel, an Essex MP, has vowed to get tough on would-be assailants of police officers and emergency service workers.<\/p>\n
She wants to introduce a minimum two-year sentence to send out a deterrent message, which would double the current 12-month limit set by 2018\u2019s Protect the Protectors Bill.<\/p>\n
However, Essex Police Federation said it would be a hollow gesture if the courts then fail to back up the legislation by not using their new powers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sentencing\u2019s always been there,\u201d said Chair Laura Heggie.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing that needs to be pushed is the enforcement of that sentencing. It doesn\u2019t act as a deterrent, whether it\u2019s one year or been doubled to two years if it\u2019s not being enforced by the courts and the CPS.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we are happy to see that Priti Patel is paying it attention, that she\u2019s giving it value and that she is looking to double the sentences, it\u2019s vital so that officers understand that they are being looked after. It is all about protecting the protectors.\u201d<\/p>\n
On average three officers a day were assaulted in Essex from April 2019 to April 2020 \u2013 an unacceptably high level, says Laura.<\/p>\n
\u201cAssaults have increased during coronavirus times, especially around using the threat of catching COVID from suspects towards officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Essex alone, we had 1,181 assaults in the last year, which equates to 22 a month, that\u2019s three a day. It\u2019s not acceptable at all,\u201d Laura said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOfficers shouldn\u2019t come to work to be assaulted, and it should be expected that on the occasions when that does happen that the courts system is there to support them and enforce the law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just need to see them using it, and perhaps by sending more people to prison then the message will get out there, even if it just puts one person off assaulting a police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
IT won\u2019t matter if sentences for those who assault officers are doubled if the courts don\u2019t hand down the tougher tariffs, Essex Police Federation has warned. Home Secretary Priti Patel,\u2026 read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3931,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=139860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139981,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139860\/revisions\/139981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essexfedfocus.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}