Fed chair condemns assaults on officers

3 June 2021

Humberside Police Federation chair Lee Sims has branded an incident which resulted in two officers from the Force needing hospital treatment for injuries they received as ‘inexcusable’.

Commenting after a disturbance in a pub on Friday, Lee said it was unfair that emergency service personnel should be targeted while  ‘simply doing their jobs’.

Lee told Planet Radio: “There’s nearly always an element of danger especially when attending disturbances at pubs and people have been drinking. 

“But that is no excuse to assault police officers who are only there doing their jobs and protecting the public.

“They should be expected like anyone else to go home to their families at the end of their working day – not to be taken to the hospital.”

Lee said Humberside Police Federation is working in partnership with the Force to prevent future attacks on officers.

He said: “The Federation is always working closely with the Force – asking them to review risk assessments when sending officers to disturbances and other incidents where they may encounter violent situations.”

The assaults on the Humberside officers came just days after the publication of new sentencing guidelines for assaults on police officers and other emergency service workers.

Police Federation national chair John Apter welcomed the revised guidance from the Sentencing Council.

He said: “During the last few years, we have been highlighting to the Sentencing Council the dangers officers face and our serious concern about some perverse sentences, which has seen people walking from the court after some vicious attacks on our colleagues.

“It’s good to see that the Sentencing Council has taken on board our views about assaults on police, including the vile acts of spitting and weaponising Covid, and these revised guidelines are a step in the right direction. 

“What we need to see now is judges making full use of the flexibility the guidelines provide to ensure that the sentence handed down reflects the seriousness and gravity of the crime.

“We will be watching closely to ensure we see a reduction in perverse sentences which result in thugs who attack emergency workers walking free from court with little more than a slap on the wrist.”