PRITI Patel has called for longer sentences for assaulting police in the wake of PC Andrew Harper’s killing.
The Home Secretary asked for the new crackdown as new figures showed that the average jail term for the offence is just two months.
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Ms Patel branded the Berkshire cop’s killing “brutal and mindless”.
She insisted: “The courts need to crackdown on police assaults and they must have the powers to approve strong sentences for these crimes to do more to stop the spate of assaults on our police officers”.
Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the senior Cabinet minister argued that only if judges do more will “the law act as the deterrent it should be”.
Ms Patel also announced that that the Government was “accelerating plans” for a new police covenant designed to enshrine protections for officers.
A policewoman from the Devon and Cornwall force took to Twitter to complain about the law’s leniency over attacks on officers.
PC Emma Buley, from east Cornwall, tweeted on Friday: “The male who assaulted us went to Court today.
“He pleaded guilty and received 12 weeks in custody for each charge plus 8 weeks for other offences. He’ll serve half, so will be out in 16 weeks.
“This IS NOT enough of a deterrent.”
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