Collins Judith: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
Collins Judith: Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:671;Page:17951] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
 on behalf of the  
Minister of Justice 
: I move  
That the Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 At the appropriate time I intend to move that the Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill be referred to the Law and Order Committee for consideration that the committee report finally to the House on or before 15 August 2011 and that the committee have the authority to meet at any time while the House is sitting except during oral questions and during any evening on a day on which there has been a sitting of the House and on a Friday in a week in which there has been a sitting of the House despite Standing Orders 187 and 190(1)(b) and (c). 
In recent years our police and corrections officers have been subjected to an increasing amount of violence. Assaults on police officers increased by nearly a third between 2005 and 2009 and assaults on corrections officers have more than doubled although serious assaults have dropped. The Government believes that as the first line of public protection against violent individuals and prisoners police officers and corrections officers are deserving of greater protection in the course of their jobs than the law currently affords them. At present there are several offences that specifically apply when the victim is a police officer or a corrections officer including assault on an officer and using a firearm against an officer. However when other types of assaults are involved the accused is charged with generic offences that apply regardless of whether the victim is a police or corrections officer. The law does not require the court to take the victim’s status as a police or corrections officer into account as an aggravating factor in sentencing. That is left to the discretion of the sentencing judge. 
The Government believes that attacks on police and corrections officers who are upholders of the law and protectors of the public should be explicitly denounced in legislation. This bill will ensure that the courts take the status of police officers and corrections officers into account as an aggravating factor at sentencing for crimes committed against them while acting in the course of their duties. In addition to the new aggravating factor the Ministry of Justice Department of Corrections and the New Zealand Police will continue to examine the adequacy of existing offences relating to assaults against police and corrections officers. Officials will report on the adequacy of the existing special offences by June 2011. 
This bill denounces the conduct of those who flagrantly attack the men and women who are charged with protecting our communities. An attack on a police or corrections officer represents an attack on the community and on the rule of law. Our police and corrections staff keep the community safe from our most dangerous people. This bill sends a strong signal that the Government will do everything in its power to protect them while they are on the job. I commend the bill to the House.