Page 16 - Federation Magazine June / July 2017
P. 16
Calls for officer protection
to ‘dominate Parliament’s
agenda’ after election
Prospective parliamentary candidate constituency and saw exactly what officers Holly Lynch.
for Halifax, Holly Lynch, has called for have to deal with.
the issues surrounding the Protect She told delegates she was so scared for “These changes need to be on the
The Protectors campaign to ‘dominate the an officer’s safety at one stage during an agenda of every candidate seeking election
agenda in Parliament’ after the General altercation that she called 999 from the so that this issue dominates the agenda in
Election on 8 June. police car to request back-up. Parliament after 8 June,” she added. “We
She told the Federation’s national “I saw for myself how quickly situations need to restore and protect the brave men
conference that there should be increased can escalate and how vulnerable officers are and women behind the uniforms.
police numbers and stiffer sentences for when they are out on their own,” she said. Nick Smart said that everyone in the
those who assault them. “To assault an officer shows complete room needed to put pressure on those in
With the help of the Federation, she has disregard for law and order and our shared power to make urgent changes after the
drafted new legislation which will lead to values. If officers are not safe, then our election.
tougher sentences and better protection if communities are not safe. “At last year’s conference Theresa May
adopted. “If an officer is assaulted at any time, it
Also addressing the conference, the chair must be recorded and must be subject to a
of West Yorkshire Police Federation, Nick robust investigation. Officers must have the
Smart, agreed something needed to be done confidence that those involved will be
quickly as he believed that police officers investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
had become ‘society’s punch bags’ and that “An assault on an officer is an assault on
there was ‘no deterrent’ for those who society. This severity of violence directed at
assault them within current legislation. police officers is just unacceptable.
Ms Lynch has been a strong advocate of “With the Federation, we have looked at
stiffer sentences for those who assault drafting a new piece of legislation. My bill
police officers, staff and other emergency would open up much tougher sentences and
service workers since she went out on patrol the second part of that bill will deal with the
with the West Yorkshire Police in her hideous acts of spitting and biting.
PC Mike Bruce (second from left) is www.westmidspolfed.com
interviewed by facilitator Ian Collins
(left) as West Yorkshire Federation
chair Nick Smart and Holly Lynch
look on.
16 federation June/July 2017
