Tougher sentencing guidelines needed

30 January 2018

Sentencing guidelines for cases involving assaults on police officers are in need of urgent reform, says the chair of Leicestershire Police Federation.

Tiff Lynch spoke out after a teenage girl given a four-month sentence for attacking a female Leicestershire police officer was freed on appeal a week later.

“We fully appreciate that judges need to follow sentencing guidelines; it is right and proper that they do,” says Tiff, “However, I think this case just goes to show why those sentencing guidelines need to be re-examined. Any attack on a police officer should be seen as an attack on society and, as such, we would expect those convicted of these assaults to feel the full weight of the law.

“This would then serve as a fitting punishment to those who seem to think that it’s OK to assault police officers but also act as a deterrent to others.

“In this case, the officer involved was on duty in the city in October last year when she intervened in an incident on Church Gate, Leicester. She found herself subjected to a horrific assault. Her assailant, who was 16 at the time, pulled several clumps of hair from her head and repeatedly assaulted her, punching her several times and repeatedly banging her head on the ground, resulting in bruising to her face. The physical and mental scars of the attack will stay with her for a considerable period of time, if not forever.

“This is simply not acceptable. Police officers join the Force to serve their communities, to fight and prevent crime, to help keep order and to protect the vulnerable. But time and time again, they find themselves becoming the victims of these types of attacks; attacks, which it has to be said, often take them away from their duties and then put further pressure on an already stretched police service.

“We understand why the appeal against the sentence succeeded but we do feel that it is time for the sentencing guidelines to reflect the seriousness of attacks on police officers and offer better protection to those who protect their communities.”

Leicestershire Police Federation has been a strong supporter of the nationwide Police Federation Protect the Protectors campaign on officer assaults. The campaign has been championed by Labour MP for Halifax Holly Lynch and, in turn, her Rhondda colleague Chris Bryant.

Mr Bryant’s Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Private Members’ Bill went on to win cross-party support in Parliament last year and is expected to become law in April.

It will: 

• Introduce new offences including wounding or assault when perpetrated against an emergency worker in the performance of their duties
• Compel those suspected of assault – including spitting – who may pose a health risk to undergo blood tests
• Make it an offence to refuse to undergo such tests, and
• Lay down tough sentences for those convicted of these new offences.

During the Protect the Protectors campaign, the Police Federation has highlighted a number of incidents in which officers have suffered horrific injuries as a result of assaults on duty. It has also drawn attention to cases where it has not felt the sentence handed down has reflected the seriousness of the attack.

Tiff explained: “The data from the Federation’s latest welfare survey involving members across England and Wales suggests there were more than two million unarmed physical assaults on officers over 12 months, and a further 302,842 assaults using a deadly weapon during the same period. These figures lead us to estimate that an assault on a police officer happens every four minutes. That cannot be right, and it cannot be allowed to continue.”