Conservatives to review sentences for assaults on emergency workers

Thursday, 21 November 2019 00:01

A Conservative majority government would launch a review into the way the criminal justice system deals with assaults on emergency workers, with a view to doubling maximum sentences. The consultation would ensure that the entire criminal justice system has the resources and capabilities it needs so that perpetrators face justice. The rising tide of assaults on NHS staff, paramedics, firefighters and police and prison officers has come despite the...Request free trial

A Conservative majority government would launch a review into the way the criminal justice system deals with assaults on emergency workers, with a view to doubling maximum sentences.

The consultation would ensure that the entire criminal justice system has the resources and capabilities it needs so that perpetrators face justice.

The rising tide of assaults on NHS staff, paramedics, firefighters and police and prison officers has come despite the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker doubling from 6 to 12 months last year. It would be irresponsible not to look at doubling the sentence again.

The Conservatives will always protect our emergency services and violence towards them will absolutely not be tolerated.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said:

"I've been appalled by the increasing numbers of assaults on our brave police officers and am not going to stand for it.

"Part of the solution is giving police the resources and powers they need to keep themselves safe, but we also need to make sure that the punishment for assaulting an officer truly fits the crime. I will always have the backs of the police and want to see those who do them harm behind bars for longer.

"Only a Conservative majority government will get Brexit done and focus on the people's priorities."

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said:

“I love our NHS and have so much admiration for the staff across the country who dedicate their lives to caring for us in our times of need.

“It is shocking and unacceptable that anyone would have to experience abuse and violence from those they are trying to help. So we are taking action to protect our emergency services workers and ensure that they are safe and secure at work.

“The Conservatives will always protect our emergency workers – and violence towards them will absolutely not be tolerated.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Rising tide of assaults:

In 2018-19 there were over 30,000 assaults on police officers in England and Wales, including the British Transport Police. 20,578 were crimes of ‘assault without injury on a constable’ recorded across all forces, an increase of 13 per cent compared with 18,138 in the previous year. 10,399 crimes of ‘assault with injury on a constable’ recorded across all forces, an increase of 27 per cent compared with the previous year.

In the twelve months to September 2018, there were 10,085 assaults on prison staff, up 29 per cent from the previous year. Of these, 997 were serious assaults on staff, up 27 per cent from the previous year. In the latest quarter the number of assaults on staff increased by 12 per cent to a new record high of 2,820 incidents.

According to the 2018 NHS Staff Survey, 33.3 per cent of ambulance staff said that had been personally experience physical violence at work from patients, their relatives, or other members of the public. That is 21,125 ambulance workers facing physical violence in just one year.

To tackle this we will:

Consult on doubling the maximum sentence for assaulting an emergency worker from 12 to 24 months in prison. We backed Chris Bryant MP’s Bill to double the maximum sentence for assault against them to double from 6 to 12 months in prison, but it is becoming increasingly clear that violence against our emergency workers such as ambulance workers and police officers is still on the rise. That is why we will consult on doubling the maximum sentence once again.

The consultation will include working with the entire criminal justice system to ensure assaults against emergency service workers are always taken seriously. Crown Prosecution Service guidance states that ‘Any assault that is committed on public servants and emergency workers must be treated seriously’ and suggests that ‘sentencing practice indicates that custody is the appropriate starting point for a person who assaults a public servant’, but many emergency service workers don’t think assaults on them are taken seriously enough. We consult to ensure that this is working in practice and perpetrators are always being brought to justice.

Jeremy Corbyn and Labour have a history of opposing our police:

Diane Abbott was criticised by the police for opposing police pursuits of criminals on mopeds and the use of spit hoods. The Police Federation said Diane Abbott’s comments on moped chases were ‘very unhelpful’ and a Police Federation conference booed her for opposing spit hoods (Express, 28 November 2018, link; The Guardian, 16 May 2017, link).

Diane Abbott said she wanted to dismantle the police. A paper Abbott co-authored said: ‘We are not interested in reforming... the police, armed services, judiciary and monarchy. We are about dismantling them and replacing them with our own machinery of class rule’ (The Guardian, 30 March 2005, link).

Labour would not give our police the powers and resources they need to fight crime:

Labour would only provide an additional 10,000 police officers, half the 20,000 we are delivering. Labour’s manifesto said they would recruit 10,000 officers, costing £300 million and paid for by reversing cuts to capital gains tax. In contrast, we are recruiting 20,000 and providing £750 million to recruit the first 6,000 (Labour Party, Manifesto 2017, link; Funding Britain’s Future, accessed 26 November 2018, link; The Guardian, 2 May 2017, link; HMT, Spending Round 2019, 4 September 2019, link).

Diane Abbott opposes extending stop and search, saying it is one of the ‘worst abuses of police powers’, ‘unhelpful’ and only uncovers a ‘tiny’ amount of crime:

‘We know in the past only a tiny fraction of stop and search revealed actual crime’ (LBC Radio, 2 May 2017, archived).
‘Stop and search… actually picked up a relatively tiny number of infringements of the law’ (Diane Abbott, Twitter, 9 August 2017, link).
‘Random stops like this take too many resources for what they achieve’ (Diane Abbott, Twitter, 22 May 2018, link).
‘Increased use of a blunt instrument like stop and search is unhelpful… Random stop and search is heavy on police time, often with little result’ (Hackney Gazette, 27 October 2018, link).