Attacks on police on the rise

Call for offenders to face harsher penalties as assaults increase by a third

Assaults on police rose by nearly a third in the past year as calls are made for offenders to face tougher penalties. Official Information Act figures show there were 350 assaults on officers in the year to the end of June, 79 more than the year before.

The assaults included officers being hit, struck or bitten or being spat at or exposed to blood.

Of the officers assaulted, 18 ended up in hospital and 221 needed medical treatment. That was 50 more cases needing medical treatment than a year earlier. Three officers also caught an infection or developed occupational cancer in the past year.

Police couldn’t give more details because it could lead to the identification of individuals.

Superintendent Mel Aitken said more work was needed to understand why assaults were rising, but NZ Police took safety very seriously.

Police tried to ensure staff had access to the right equipment for the range of situations they face every day, she said.

They’re now also given better tactical training and body armour, and have access to Tasers, guns and — in remote areas — safety alarms.

The new figures come amid a renewed call for tougher penalties for those who assault police and other first responders.

New Zealand First MP Darroch Ball has put forward the First Responders and Prison Officers Bill, which is halfway through its first reading.

He said there is a lack of respect for the uniform, and it often seems like a target. He said a line needs to be drawn in the sand to say: “If you choose to assault our first responders, you’ll be punished accordingly.”

The bill comes after the Police Association late last year released a report titled “Risk and resilience”, providing a snapshot into the appalling experiences of police officers assaulted on the job.

This included Senior Constable Paul Symonds, 61, whose 30-year career ended in 2017 when a kick to the face resulted in a smashed eye socket, lacerations and broken tooth.

The officer, awarded the NZ Bravery Star for his actions during the 2009 Napier siege, was attacked in a cell at the Hastings courthouse.

It caused a permanent injury requiring regular visits to a surgeon and left him double vision in his left eye that will never fully recover, along with ongoing memory loss.

Symonds was unable to return to work, while the man who did the damage was last year sentenced to three and a half years in prison.

In the same month Symonds was attacked, Senior Constable Scott Woodsford, 57, was hit by a fleeing driver as he attempted to lay road spikes at Te Teko in Bay of Plenty.

The car was travelling about 100km/h when it hit Woodsford, sending him over the bonnet and flying into a drain next to the road. He was knocked unconscious.

He suffered a brain bleed, concussion, wrist fracture, dislocated shoulder and broke multiple bones in both legs.

He was lucky to be alive. He spent two months in hospital and a further 21 months recovering at home. He now has metal rods in both lower legs and one in his right thigh.

Police Association president Chris Cahill said the injuries highlighted the need to better protect police and urged judges to come down harder on offenders. The law wasn’t the issue, he said, it was the sentences judges handed down.

Cahill also said the true extent of the problem was greater. The 350 assaults were just those where there’s been an injury, he said, but the total number was nearly 1800.

If you choose to assault our first responders, you’ll be punished accordingly.

Darroch Ball, NZ First MP