Question reference: S6W-01757
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 22 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 30 July 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to implement tougher sentences for offenders who spit and cough on police officers.
Answer
Assaults on police officers including by spitting or coughing are despicable and this is especially during times with prevalence of Covid-19 in communities.
Deliberately spitting and coughing on police officers is a form of assault and the maximum sentence for an assault is life imprisonment. This is the most severe form of penalty available under the criminal law and is available under the common law of assault.
In addition, there are specific offences in the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 which also provide protection for police officers.
The combination of these laws provide full protection under the law with the independent court deciding what an appropriate sentence is in a given case. The Scottish Government fully supports independent courts having extensive powers to deal robustly with perpetrators.
We continue to ask all organisations to support staff who experience violence in the workplace including Police Scotland themselves with encouragement of the reporting of such incidents for appropriate action to be taken.