18th July 2021

The latest violent attack on a police constable in West Auckland is more evidence that there needs to be harsher sentences brought in for assaults on our frontline officers, says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust.

“A constable has been viciously punched in the head more than eight times and knocked to the ground – the attack continued even when the officer was on his knees.”

“Sensible Sentencing Trust has been calling for a long time to have some serious sentences brought in for attacks on police. We cannot continue to sit back and watch our frontline officers be assaulted.”

“For too long there has been a growing trend to see our police officers as targets with little if any serious repercussions.”

"These thugs should be locked-up with minimum mandatory prison sentences to show we have zero-tolerance for these attacks against our first responders. Instead, they are often given home detention or meaninglessly weak community-based sentences.”

"We can’t continue to ignore the danger our men and women in uniform are placing themselves in without giving them the backing and confidence that our society won’t continue to allow violent attacks against them to go without severe repercussions."

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