Spitting on a police officer could mean 14 years in jail
People who spit at police could be sent to prison for up to 14 years under tough new laws to crack down on the “filthy attacks”.
The development comes as new figures reveal more than 1,000 police officers are “exposed to bodily fluids” on the job every year.
There is also a suggestion that there would be mandatory testing of offenders for infectious diseases, reports The Daily Telegraph.
The Police Association said officers spat on had to put their lives on hold for months to ensure they had not contracted diseases.
“I know officers who have stopped being intimate with their partners or stopped trying for a baby while they waited,” NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said.
Police Minister Troy Grant told The Saturday Telegraph he had “prepared” a cabinet proposal for a “new offence with tough penalties for spitting on officers and a mandatory testing regimen for offenders who spit”.
Grant slammed spitting as a “particularly filthy form of assault”.
In a submission to the Inquiry into Violence Against Emergency Services Personnel, the association pushed for a maximum 14-year jail sentence for anyone who intentionally or accidentally exposed an officer to bodily fluids.
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