The law must protect those protecting us

As part of this week's #Beyondthebeat campaign Wiltshire Police and I are raising awareness of the parts of working for the police that the public may not be aware of, including assaults and abuse on duty.

As recent events have shown, every day officers, staff and volunteers from Wiltshire Police run into unknown and potentially dangerous situations to ensure the public are kept safe.

That's why it's so important to me that our officers, staff and volunteers are protected whilst doing their job, not only by defensive tools such as Taser and spit /bite guards but also by greater legal protection.

I fully welcome any new law that affords greater legal protection to police officers, staff and volunteers whilst doing their job and keeping our communities safe. This includes the emergency workers assaults bill and Finns Law currently working their way through parliament.

Proposals to protect police drivers against prosecution in cases of speeding and tactical collisions with suspect vehicles have my full support.

These changes will ensure that police drivers, who are rigorously trained, have more confidence in pursuing offenders once the relevant risks have been accessed, including the risk to the public, suspect and the officers themselves.

It's paramount that the law protects our police whilst they're protecting us and recognises their additional training.

And anyone who assaults an officer, staff member or volunteer on duty should face the full force of the law; being injured and abused on duty is not part and parcel of working for the police.

I know that it has been a priority for the Chief Constable and the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) to ensure that the workforce have better protection and better support when incidents like this occur including the introduction of the seven point assault plan to ensure that you don't write up your own statement and another officer does this for you.

Regardless of whether you work for the police or not, if you are a victim of crime you should be treated in the exact same way as you yourself are expected to treat a victim.