Tougher laws protecting police and emergency service workers from assault have been welcomed by leading ACT police officers and the police union.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
The ACT Government announced yesterday moves to close a loophole allowing offenders who assault police to use self-defence as a justification
The changes are part of major reforms planned to the legal foundations of police powers in the ACT, reported on by The Canberra Times in August.
Chief Police Officer Roman Quaedvlieg had expressed serious concerns about the increasing severity of attacks on police officers to a Legislative Assembly committee last month.
He said although the number of assaults on police had held steady over the past five years, ''mobbing assaults'' and violence fuelled by the drug ice were of increasing concern.
The changes were welcomed by Australian Federal Police Association chief executive officer Jim Torr yesterday.
''The old issue of counter claim of assault, it's always been there,'' Mr Torr said.
''So we do welcome the Government taking the time to look at it, and we're glad the Government's recognised it's an issue not just for police, but for other emergency services personnel.''
ACT Policing's north district superintendent Mick Calatzis said assaults against police on the City Beat had fallen dramatically in recent years.
The City Beat's two teams are often in the thick of violent situations, patrolling Civic streets during the busy periods from Thursday to Sunday nights.
But Superintendent Calatzis said the City Beat teams had not laid a single charge of assaulting a police officer this year. The year before, they laid four charges, while in 2009 they laid 14.
He said new powers under the liquor Act, as well as the adoption of early intervention policing tactics to stamp out late-night violence in the city, had helped de-escalate conflicts before assaults occurred.
''We've now got powers with early intervention, for example ... queues outside of nightclubs, we can go with security staff to identify people who are likely to be troublemakers early on,'' he said.
''We can give people a move-on order ... we don't apprehend them, so we've got a lot of early intervention tactics as well,
''Instead of what I call the wicketkeeper approach, you're setting the field and waiting for the nick, we're going a little bit early on the front foot to move on the early trouble makers.''
But he said the number of offenders spitting on a police officer had increased dramatically.
