Essex Police Federation calls for tougher sentences for police assaults

30 January 2020

ESSEX Police Federation has said it wants to see “stronger, tougher sentences” for those who assault police officers.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has prosecuted more than 50 assaults a day in the past year since attacks on emergency workers became a specific offence. Nine out of 10 of these assaults were on police officers.

The Assaults On Emergency Workers (Offences) Act has now been updated in several areas, including ensuring that prosecutors seek the maximum sentence in court, and playing any body-worn footage to the judge. The CPS has called on magistrates, judges and prosecutors to heed these new guidelines.

Chairman of Essex Police Federation Steve Taylor said: “We want to see stronger, tougher sentences for those convicted of assaulting officers in the execution of their duty. An assault on an officer is an assault on society itself, so why shouldn’t the perpetrators be dealt with by the very strongest terms laid down in the law?

“We see, with alarming frequency, inconsistent and lenient sentences handed out for those convicted of assaulting officers, and where we see it, we’ll call it out.”

Steve said he appreciated the police were part of a wider criminal justice system and that it was a complex situation with prison staffing issues and courts being closed.

He added: “I’d like to see more public support for unduly lenient sentences, because not all of them put the fact that that individual has assaulted an officer at the front of those decisions. That shouldn’t be acceptable to the public. It’s certainly not acceptable to the police. I’d like to see more public outcry, because that’s the only way you drive through effective change.”