Protect our police

WHEN did it become accepted practice to taunt the police?

What does it say about our society that the people who risk their lives every day are routinely attacked by the community they have sworn to protect.

Last year 140 officers in the Greater Geelong Police Service Area — around a third of all of our local police — suffered injuries during their job.

Police Association secretary Wayne Gatt reveals today that Victorian police have been the victims of car ramming while on duty more than 230 times in the past two years.

That equates to a car ramming every three days. Can you imagine taking to the road every day knowing those are the odds that you could be hit?

While the complete lack of gratitude these acts show is astonishing enough, the fact that police are routinely being targeted is a worrying reflection on what our society deems as acceptable.

So why has car ramming and targeting police officers become such a sport among criminals in recent times?

Mr Gatt firmly believes the answer lies in the lack of adequate punishment for those caught in the act.

“(Punishment) needs to be harsh, it needs to send a clear message to criminals engaging in this type of dangerous behaviour, that the punishment you face when you’re caught is not worth the risk of committing the offence in the first place,” he said yesterday.

More than that, the government should speed up its examination of last year’s proposal to introduce specific car ramming legislation that would see anybody found guilty jailed for two years.

Our police deserve all the support we can offer to help them do their job — after all when they are hindered, it is community safety that suffers which places us all at risk.

The government has a responsibility to address this trend now. It is an absolute priority to protect our officers if we want to continue to keep the community safe — and attract people to sign up to the profession.