Jail every thug who assaults an officer to stem rise in attacks, says police chief
ONE of Britain’s top police chiefs last night declared every thug who injures an officer should be jailed.
Andy Cooke, Chief Constable of Merseyside, said offenders must face tougher sentences for lashing out at police, paramedics, prison officers and firefighters.
Violent attacks on the police have rocketed by a third in just four years, with officers injured at a rate of 28 a day.
Bobbies were injured in 10,399 assaults last year, up 32 per cent from 7,903 in 2015-16.
Mr Cooke told the Daily Express: “An assault on a police officer, or any emergency worker, should result in an immediate prison sentence. Is there a
grading here? Is it OK to slap a police officer? Is it OK to spit on a police officer?
“Are those the sorts of things that will get you a slap on the wrist, but a punch in the face might get you a bit more? If we are going to stop it happening, or reduce the number of assaults on police officers, we have got to look at the deterrent.
“It is the same as knives and guns. If you carry a gun, you know you are going to get five years. If you carry a knife, you are probably going to get a suspended sentence. What is the deterrence?
“There has got to be a significant deterrence for whatever you use because a knife or a gun will cause the same amount of harm.
“A police officer doesn’t join the police, doesn’t come on duty, thinking, ‘Today I am getting assaulted’, nor should they. They are there to protect people.”
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick claimed last week that anyone convicted twice of attacking a police officer should be jailed automatically.
She also said attacks on officers should always be prosecuted rather than being allowed to “lie on file”.
Ms Dick said: “Our view is that if somebody has attacked an officer, that should be on their record. We should seek a successful prosecution and it shouldn’t be left as a minor matter, or on file, because if they do it again the court needs to know that’s what they’ve done.
“One step beyond that would perhaps be to say that if you have done it once it will certainly be there on your record and then, if you do it again, you will go straight to prison.”
Presented with an example of a drunk thug swinging at an officer who is then remorseful about it the next day, Mr Cooke said: “He’ll certainly regret it three months later.
“Cressida might be right. But being able to assault a police officer twice before you go to prison, I don’t think is right. “There is no easy answer to it. “No matter how drunk I have been when I was 16, 17, 18, I would never have dreamed of assaulting a police officer.
“I would never dream of starting to fight with them.
“Is there an element of less respect for the law?
“An element of less respect for authority? Less respect for teachers?
“I think people can make their own decision on that. Maybe we need to get that respect back.”