West Yorkshire’s three blue light services are joining forces to call for new laws that give staff better protection against attacks on duty.
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, West Yorkshire Police and Yorkshire Ambulance Service are backing a ‘Protect the Protectors’ Bill going through Parliament that will introduce tougher penalties for those who attack police, fire and ambulance workers.
The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Bill 2017- 2019 is set for debate today (Friday), making it a step closer at becoming law if it gets support of MPs.
In the 12 months to April firefighters from West Yorkshire have come under attack almost 100 times, and non-operational staff suffered six incidents of violence towards them.
West Yorkshire Police recorded 1,741 assaults on employees while 840 incidents of verbal and physical abuse against Yorkshire Ambulance Service staff were reported over the same period.
Chief Fire Officer John Roberts said: “We are pleased to see the bill, coined Protect the Protectors enter into its final stages in the House of Commons before it progresses through to the House of Lords where hopefully it will achieve royal assent.
“WYFRS has been campaigning hard to raise awareness of what our emergency crews have to face when trying to protect people from harm. They are pelted with stones and sometimes bricks, and over the bonfire period we see mindless people using fireworks as weapons against them – it is disgusting behaviour and it needs to stop.”
Chief Constable Dee Collins, of West Yorkshire Police, said: “You join the police force to protect others from harm but unfortunately we are increasingly seeing frontline officers and staff subjected to violent attacks as they work to keep our communities safe.
“Being spat at, wrestled, hit and kicked should not be part of the day job. The uniform shouldn’t be seen as a reason to attack someone - quite the opposite, it should be a reason not to. ”
Stephen Segasby, Deputy Director of Operations at Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, added: “Everyone working in the emergency services does a difficult job, often in challenging circumstances. Physical and verbal abuse against any member of staff is completely unacceptable and we are doing everything we can to prevent this.”
The Bill would introduce a new triable either way offence of assault or battery committed against an emergency worker, with a maximum penalty of a 12 month prison sentence when tried in the crown court; introduce a statutory aggravating factor when sentencing certain assaults against emergency workers; and enable bodily samples to be taken from persons suspected of offences against emergency workers which may pose a risk of the transmission of an infectious disease.
