"I remember as a young girl him coming home black and blue"

15 March 2017

A Labour politician pushing for greater protection for police officers against assaults and spitting has spoken about the personal inspiration behind her campaign.

Holly Lynch, MP for Halifax, presented a Ten Minute Rule Motion in the House of Commons last month in a bid to secure tougher sentences for anyone who assaults emergency responders.

Ms Lynch said: “My dad is a retired police sergeant and I remember as a young girl him quite often coming home black and blue so I remember on a very personal level those experiences.”

Her recent drive to protect officers came after she went out with a West Yorkshire Police officer during his shift and had to call 999 from the police car because she was so worried for his safety.

She has called for changes in legislation to make sure there are tougher sentences in place for anyone who assaults a police officer and to extend that to all emergency service workers.

She also wants to make sure that anyone who spits at a police officer will have to provide a blood sample or face a fine or custodial sentence so that the officer knows if they are at risk of catching any infectious diseases.

She had earlier met MPs and police from across the country at a #ProtectTheProtectors event at Parliament to launch the draft motion.

Ms Lynch said she was “really committed to trying to deliver progress and change that will protect police officers when they’re out on the streets” and said she was pleased that there is a lot of support from MPs in Westminster to do that.

“MPs are really keen to make sure they are looking after police officers in their constituencies,” she said.

“We have heard that spit guards really are the most effective thing to manage a prisoner. It’s in their interest as it saves them from more forceful restraint but also it really is in the interest of the police officer in protecting them from being spat at, which in this day and age is absolutely unacceptable.”