Move to fix off-duty cop assault loophole
THE Tasmanian Government will introduce legislation to parliament this week to close a loophole in mandatory sentencing laws for serious assaults against police officers.
Laws requiring a six-month minimum jail term for assaults against police officers have already been implemented.
But the Government is now seeking to extend the laws to include serious assaults against off-duty officers in cases where the offence is motivated by the victim’s status as a serving police officer.
Leader of Government Business in the House of Assembly Michael Ferguson said the Government wanted to ensure the same laws applied whether a police officer was on or off duty.
“It’s become apparent that our important [mandatory sentencing] legislation . . . there is a loophole that needs to be closed off,” Mr Ferguson said.
The Government first indicated it planned to address the loophole in August.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White said Labor would wait to see the legislation, but her party’s position on mandatory sentencing had not changed.
“Nobody condones violence of any sort, so of course we will always stand in support of any member of our community who is a victim of violent crimes, but that doesn’t mean mandatory sentencing is the best way to approach preventing these things from happening in the first place,” she said.
“There’s no evidence to show that is the best way to affect that, and of course eminent bodies like the sentencing advisory council continue to argue that mandatory sentencing does not work.”