Only one in four criminals convicted for attacking police officers is jailed, says Patel

ONLY a quarter of criminals convicted of attacking police officers have been jailed since tough new laws were introduced, the Home Secretary has disclosed.

The Assaults on Emergency Workers Act, which was brought in earlier this year, doubles the maximum sentence available from six to 12 months in prison for criminals found guilty of assaulting a police officer or other emergency workers.

But Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, said early indications were that the law was having little effect, with only a quarter of those convicted being jailed, and the average sentence in those cases being just eight weeks.

Speaking a month after Pc Andrew Harper was killed while responding to a burglary, Ms Patel pledged to do more to ensure that the “monsters” who preyed on the police received appropriate sentences.

She told delegates at the Police Superintendents’ Association conference: “We need a strong deterrent to make these thugs think twice. The Assaults on Emergency Workers Act was a start, but in its first six weeks only one in four people convicted of the new offence were jailed – and the average sentence was just over two months. I know the strength of these punishments is matter of concern for you all, and share these concerns.

“The epidemic of attacks demands urgent action, so I’m working with the Lord Chancellor to ensure they are handled with appropriate severity by the whole criminal justice system.”

Ms Patel also told senior police leaders at the conference she was “ashamed” of the way the police had been treated in recent years, insisting a I she was determined to heal the “wounds of the past”. In her first major speech since taking her new role, Ms Patel said she recognised the police had been “overworked and undervalued” by the previous government and stressed her determination to reset the relationship. The new Government was on their side, but she admitted it would take “more than a sticking plaster” to reverse the “years of damage”.

Despite having been a member of the previous government, Ms Patel said she was “ashamed” of the lack of support in the past, telling senior police leaders: “That stops now.”

She told delegates: “As your Home Secretary, I think it’s quite important… to start by saying that you have our support… It’s important to show that the wounds of the past are brought to some closure and effectively that the police come first and from my perspective, you are my top priority.”