The Police Federation of Northern Ireland is a unique organisation in
the U.K. Its members are permanently armed and 18 years after the Good
Friday Agreement still face threats rare in the rest of the country.
Whilst the degree of misconduct amongst
PSNI is probably no better or worse than on the mainland inquiries into
shootings resulting in death seem rare. Assault on police on the
other hand are not uncommon. According to a FOI request "in the financial year 2014/2015 there were 2,866 assault offences where the victim was a police officer on duty."
The Police Federation of Northern Ireland is arguing that a custodial
sentence should be mandatory for every offender convicted of an assault
on their members. Their request to Stormont makes
clear that even those convicted of common assault where no harm occurs
should suffer that mandatory jail sentence. There cannot be a single
J.P. or criminal lawyer who is unaware and/or has no experience of the
most perfunctory "assault on P.C." being brought to court on the
flimsiest of evidence. The good burghers of Stormont should think
carefully before acquiescing to this request.
I remember we once dealt with an allegation of assault where the prosecution evidence was that the defendant placed his hand on the traffic wardens shoulder (gently !!), called her dear and asked her not to be silly. We wondered at the time if that had passed the relevant CPS hurdles.......
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