Under the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018, people who assault emergency service workers, including police officers, prison officers, firefighters and ambulance crews, could face up to 12 months in jail.
Norfolk Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Lorne Green was among those welcoming the new law. He said: “Too many of our emergency workers have experience of being assaulted by the very people they are working to protect. An assault on an emergency worker is an assault on us all – they are there to protect us and we have a duty to do all we can to protect our protectors.
“While I welcome this new legislation, and hope the threat of a year’s jail term will change the behaviour of those who would inflict harm on our emergency workers, I would have liked to have seen the maximum sentence increased even further.
“As Norfolk’s PCC, I will be watching closely over the coming months to understand, in particular, the impact of this new legislation on the experience of the police officers on Norfolk’s frontline.”
Also welcoming the law, John Apter, National Chair of the Police Federation, said: “This change in law is the right thing for our dedicated emergency workers – it makes clear that attacks against them will not be tolerated and that those who cross the line will be dealt with robustly. And although the legislation is now in place it means nothing unless it is used by the Crown Prosecution Service and the courts, so I call on them to make full use of these new powers.
“Whilst we acknowledge that we did not get everything we wanted from this new Act – we feel sentences are still not as strong as they need to be – this is a significant step forward in the right direction and we will continue to make the case for a stronger deterrent, for a wider roll-out of Taser, body-worn video and spit and bite guards and the appropriate levels of staffing.
“I hope that this legislation will also help to change a culture which has developed within society that it is acceptable to assault an emergency worker. Let me be clear, it is not. Nobody should be assaulted just because of the uniform they wear or the job they do, to assault an emergency worker is totally unacceptable and there must be consequences for those who commit such crimes.”
