By Darroch Ball

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

“What is most frustrating is that this is not a new problem. There seems to be no action being taken in regards to holding these cop bashers to account.”

“The Police Association President Chris Cahill has said today that rarely, if ever, these thugs get any prison time. There is any wonder why they think its ok to assault our first responders.”

“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.”