MP wants tough new penalties for attacks on police

New Zealand First MP Ron Mark wants Parliament to create new penalties for people who attack the police.

Mr Mark, NZ First's law and order spokesman, said he was angry and appalled by the fracas in Tauranga that left a woman officer seriously injured.

"We are becoming a far more violent society, whether we like it or not," he said.

"There is an increasing propensity for people to deliberately attack the police. It is time we started looking at law changes to make penalties for attacks against the police more severe than normal assault."

Mr Mark, who regularly accompanies police on patrols, said most people had little or no idea of the dangers police faced and the attitudes they encountered.

"Society can't have it both ways. We can't demand that the police protect us and then turn a blind eye when thugs and drunken louts attack the police," he said.

"People make a conscious decision to confront and attack the police -- and even cause serious injuries to officers performing their duties. It must be met with the full force of the justice system."

Mr Mark said he was with a police patrol in Christchurch one night when youths threw beer bottles at the car as it passed a house.

"We stopped and went in to inquire. We were met with total belligerence and arrogance," he said.

"That is the face of New Zealand on a drunken Friday and Saturday night -- and it's what police officers are dealing with every week."

Mr Mark said some members of the public, who knew nothing about the situations faced by police, were quick to lodge "malicious complaints" about the way they handled fights and brawls.

"They lodge complaints claiming that an officer was a little rough with a drunken, obnoxious teenager ... and very few of those complaints are upheld," he said.

"They're dealing with people who are drunk, violent and extremely aggressive."

NZ First has a support agreement with the Government which ensures it has a majority in Parliament, and Mr Mark said he would meet ministers to discuss the problems and the need for law changes.

"So far I've been very encouraged with the series of meetings I've held with ministers charged with working with me," he said.

"I'll be looking to maximise that co-operation over this."

Police statistics show the total assaults on police dropped in the 2004/05 year to 1869 -- the lowest in the past decade and down on the 2053 in 2003-04.

An area that has increased was the number of assaults involving firearms -- there were 37 such incidents in the past year, up on 30 the year before.

But the number of stabbing assaults has dropped markedly -- just five were recorded last year compared to 48 in 2002/03.

Police Association vice-president Richard Middleton said although there had been several high-profile assaults on police, the association believed efforts to reduce assaults were working.

"I'm reasonably comfortable that the assaults on police in general are declining.

"I know the police have done a lot of work on this side of things over the last few years.

"I put that down to a number of factors, not least of which OC (pepper) spray has been very effective in reducing the number of assaults on police."

He said the spray had been particularly effective in reducing the numbers of stabbing assaults as police no longer had to grapple with people wielding knives.

Mr Middleton said there was also now better training of officers.

"The options available to us are much wider," he said.

"All these things haven't happened in isolation -- they have happened because there were too many assaults on police."

He said the fact the rate was declining should not take away from the horrific nature of the weekend's assault and even one assault was too many.

"We do have bad assaults on our members from time to time but if you go back 20 years we used to have a regiment to go and visit a pub and that doesn't need to happen anymore."

- NZPA