Ulster Unionist Justice Spokesperson Doug Beattie MC MLA has welcomed the decision to remove Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm from proposals to expand the use of penalty notices, following strong opposition and limited support in consultation responses. However, he has cautioned that retaining assaults on police within the scheme risks undermining efforts to strengthen protections for blue light workers and could send the wrong signal about the seriousness of such offences.

Doug Beattie MC MLA said:

“Over this last number of months, the Ulster Unionist Party have challenged the Justice Minister on proposals to expand out of court disposals, including penalty notices.  We made the point, forcefully, that Assault Occasioning Actual Bodily Harm (AOABH) should not be included in this penalty notice proposal, given the very nature of this crime. Therefore, it is positive and right that AOABH has now been dropped from this proposal, as it was clear from the consultation replies that there was limited support for this category.

“I remain concerned that ‘Assault on Police’ remains part of the proposal. While I understand the reason for this, in order to speed up justice and give police officers more flexibility in dealing with low level crime, it does raise wider issues that need to be addressed.  Presently, there is considerable pressure to ensure sentencing for assaults on blue light workers is increased; indeed, the forthcoming sentencing Bill aims to address this.  Therefore, the idea that assault on police would be viewed as a lesser crime worthy of just a penalty notice undermines that direction of travel and society’s perceptions that assaults on a blue light worker should be treated more seriously, not less.

“The Ulster Unionist Party will continue to monitor the proposals to ensure we are not short changing our police service in an aim to speed up justice.  It is clear our scrutiny has captured the mood regarding these proposals, and while remaining ready to work with the Department of Justice, we will not allow laws to be changed with poorer outcomes for victims.”