PCC welcomes arrival of new laws to 'protect the protectors'

From today, people who assault emergency service workers, including police officers, prison officers, firefighters and ambulance crews, could face up to 12 months in jail as new legislation comes into force.

Norfolk’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Lorne Green, who had supported the campaign for a change in the law and previously written to the county’s MPs urging them to back the Assaults on Emergency Workers Bill, has welcomed the new laws, saying:

“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.”    

More information on the Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 can be found here.