Protect The Protectors Bill passes committee stage in Parliament

LEGISLATION to better protect police officers from assaults is well underway in Parliament, with a new Bill passing the committee stage.

The Emergency Workers (Offences) Private Members Bill, introduced by Labour’s Chris Bryant MP, has been the culmination of months of work from the Police Federation and others campaigning to clamp down on attacks on blue light workers.

The new legislation, which is expected to be passed by Easter 2018, would make it an aggravated offence to assault emergency service workers. It calls for tougher sentences for attacks on emergency workers, increasing the maximum sentence for common assault from six months to a year if staff are attacked while on duty. And it would force anyone who bites, spits at or attacks an emergency service worker to undergo blood and/or saliva tests.

Jim Gray, Chairman of Northumbria Police Federation, said: “It is heartening that we have achieved cross-party support on this very important Bill. What it looks like exactly in the end has yet to be seen in terms of actual legislation, but it is very positive that we have achieved so much so far, and hopefully, if and when it does come into law, Police Officers and other emergency frontline workers will have better legislative protection, compared to what we’ve seen in the past.”

Police Officers from across the country, supported by their local Police Federations, have been contributing to the #ProtectTheProtectors campaign by publicising the horrendous attacks they have fallen victim to at work.

Jim added: “It is important to remember that progress regarding this work has all been driven by the Police Federation. Here in Northumbria, I wrote to all of our MPs about the proposed Bill, encouraging their support for it, and the responses I received were all very positive. So I look forward to this legislation being passed and hopefully the proposed increased sentences linked to assaults on Police Officers will ultimately help to reduce such assaults and on other emergency workers.”