Federation repeats calls for tough sentences for officer assaults

27 June 2022

Suffolk Police Federation secretary Ben Hudson says attacks on police officers are a “stain on society”.

Ben has called on the courts to hand down tough sentences to those who assault frontline workers to help send the message they’re not acceptable.

He was speaking as it was questioned whether stiffer penalties for those who attack frontline worker were effective in reducing assaults.

Ben said: “The Police Federation has campaigned long and hard for tough sentences to be imposed on anyone convicted of attacking a police officer and we can be proud of our work.

“Attacks on frontline workers are a stain on society and it needs a collective effort to stop them – it’s not just a policing issue but a societal one.

“Part of that is ensuring that our courts use their powers to deal robustly with anyone convicted of such an attack.

“We need to get the message across that assaults on emergency workers are unacceptable and that anyone convicted of such an attack will face the weight of the law.”

His comments follow the publication of a report by the charity Transform Justice ‘Protect the protectors? Do criminal sanctions reduce violence against police and NHS staff?’.

The report states it takes a closer, evidence-based look at increased penalties for assaults against emergency workers and demonstrates the ineffectiveness of this approach on any level.

Steve Hartshorn, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, took part in a panel discussion to coincide with the report’s launch which asked: ‘Will harsher sanctions reduce assaults on police and NHS workers?’

Asked of his personal experience of officers being assaulted when on duty, Steve said: “I have been assaulted countless times and, to go back to when I first started as a new officer in 1995, there was an ethos then that it was part of the job.

“It was in the early 2000s I think and, there was a court case where a judge basically reaffirmed that it was part the job to get assaulted but it never felt right because everyone has a right to go to work and to be treated properly. We accept that at times policing can be a contact sport, certainly if you are a frontline officer dealing with the public.

“It’s the minority of the public that cause these assaults on officers and it does leave lasting effects on police officers.”