Police Association president Chris Cahill is calling for harsher sentencing in cases of violence against officers. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Changes need to be made to ensure offenders convicted of violence towards police officers spend significant time behind bars, the Police Association says.
A man was arrested earlier this week after a car hit a police officer and patrol vehicle in Huntly before fleeing.
The incident came just over a month after the death of Senior Sergeant Lyn Fleming, when she and Senior Sergeant Adam Ramsay were struck by a vehicle in Nelson on New Year's Day.
A 32-year-old man has been charged with murdering Fleming and attempting to murder Ramsay.
President of the Police Association Chris Cahill said the recent incident in Huntly came at a time when feelings in the force were still "very raw" over Fleming's death.
"We're seeing regular issues of officers being in vehicles that are rammed by offenders but now this seems to be escalating to officers that are outside of vehicles. That's incredibly concerning because [it's] very hard to protect yourself in such circumstances," Cahill said.
Appropriate criminal charges were available to match the seriousness of such attacks, but he felt strong sentencing had to follow convictions, Cahill said.
"Often [sentences] can be far below what we believe is appropriate for the seriousness. What we've seen overseas is mandated prison sentences for certain assaults on officers and that is the sort of thing that needs to be considered here if the serious number of assaults and the nature of them are going to continue to grow," Cahill said.
Cahill said he was aware of an incident in Auckland last night when a 12-year-old offender rammed a vehicle into a police car and then drove towards officers once they were out of their patrol car.
"These things aren't as rare as we might hope they are and I think there has to be a very clear incentive to say that if you're going to do these things there's going to be consequences," he said.
The age of young offenders in similar offences could be a challenge but there had to be consequences when people were putting officers' lives at risk, Cahill said.
"Even if the message is being sent to adults - it can flow down that these are imprisonable offences when you commit these crimes.
"There has to be something done because - as it stands now - too many officers are being put at risk," Cahill said.
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