Mistreating emergency service workers punishable by Jail
Mistreating emergency service workers will lead to mandatory jail time. Minister for Legal Protection, Sander Dekker has written to the House of Representatives to urge them on this issue. The current penalty for mistreating an emergency service worker, providing the worker is not badly injured, is community service. Dekker plans to impose jail time even if only for a day, to make sure this issue is taken seriously.
The minister has heard the request from the VVD, the CDA, and the PVV. Dekker said, “This type of violence has a great impact on the victim, his environment and colleagues and thus affects the whole of society”. Anyone guilty of mistreating emergency service workers will find themselves in jail, the judge has the final say on sentencing but in all cases, jail time will be mandatory.
We vragen mensen voor ons in de frontlinie te staan. Dan moeten we er ook alles aan doen om hen te beschermen. ? https://t.co/XtXSYNtXqQ
— Sander Dekker (@SanderDekker) March 12, 2019
“We ask people to be in the front line for us. Then we must do everything we can to protect them”, Dekker tweeted earlier this morning. In these dangerous times, it seems the people that need protection the most are those protecting us.
This problem has been long-running, too many disorderly people lashing out at the workers whose job it is to care for them. “I bear witness to the lack of respect for the work these people perform in often difficult circumstances”, Minister Dekker.
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Cover pic source: Wikipedia/Steven Lek