Jail Sentences Should Be Given To Those Who Assault The Police

“Hefty custodial sentences” should be handed down to offenders who violently assault the police, Hampshire Police Federation has said, as it was revealed that there were over 1,430 assaults on Hampshire officers last year.

New Government figures illustrate the alarming escalation in assaults against police officers in England and Wales, which are up 20,000 compared to a decade ago. Over the past financial year, 1,436 officers were assaulted in Hampshire, which equates to almost four assaults every single day.

Hampshire Police Federation Chair Zoë Wakefield said: “This is really worrying. We’ve been good at recording assaults for several years now and they’re still going up year on year, which is concerning.

“One thing that I think is good is that hefty custodial sentences were handed down to offenders who assaulted officers in the summer riots. Hopefully that sent a really clear message that you can’t go out there and just start attacking officers.

“But those strong, hefty sentences need to be in place all the time, not just when we’ve got a national disorder problem. Four officers in Hampshire are assaulted every single day. Courts need to send a clear message that it’s not okay to assault police officers or any other emergency worker. We see too many people being given community service or a suspended sentence.”

Another factor in the rise in assaults was low resourcing, Zoë said: “There’s just not enough officers. The Government needs to put sustained financial investment into policing to be able to increase police numbers and give us a decent pay rise so we’re attracting the right people into policing and keeping experienced officers in policing.

“At the moment we’re still not back at the numbers we had in 2010. That is definitely a factor in some officer assaults – that there aren’t enough officers to help.”