Give our police officers PPE and virus tests to keep them safe - Holly Lynch

POLICING in this country is – and always has been – based on consent. It is rooted in Sir Robert Peel’s nine original principles set out in 1829, ironically just as the world was emerging from the second worldwide plague pandemic.
By Holly Lynch
Published 13th Apr 2020, 09:09 GMT
Updated 13th Apr 2020, 09:11 GMT
Police Community Support Officers clapping outside the Nightingale Hospital at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Harrogate, to salute local heroes during the latest Clap for Carers initiative.Police Community Support Officers clapping outside the Nightingale Hospital at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Harrogate, to salute local heroes during the latest Clap for Carers initiative.
Police Community Support Officers clapping outside the Nightingale Hospital at the Harrogate Convention Centre in Harrogate, to salute local heroes during the latest Clap for Carers initiative.

Last week, the Home Affairs Select Committee took evidence from four of the country’s chief constables, as well as the Police Federation and the Superintendents Association, to hear if the new emergency laws contained within the Coronavirus Act are having the desired effect.

At this challenging time, the police have been tasked with not only maintaining law and order, keeping communities safe with the continuation of day-to-day policing, but also new powers to provide support to their colleagues in the NHS and public health.

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But like all of our soldiers on the front line in this war, we need to make sure that they have personal protective equipment to allow them to carry out their vital roles as safely as possible.

Holly Lynch is the Labour MP for Halifax. She was made Shadow Immigration Minister last week.Holly Lynch is the Labour MP for Halifax. She was made Shadow Immigration Minister last week.
Holly Lynch is the Labour MP for Halifax. She was made Shadow Immigration Minister last week.

We need to roll out virus tests to them as quickly as they are made available to give those officers the confidence they need and deserve, to allay the fear that they might be spreading the virus, or even taking it home to their families.

Since the committee’s evidence session, I’ve been shown internal police guidance which shows that advice around where and when officers need to wear protective face masks changed three times in eight days – this is hardly reassuring for either them or the members of the public they are coming into contact with.

We owe them those protections, not least because we have seen despicable examples of coughing and spitting at officers by some who have claimed to have had the coronavirus.

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I am pleased to see that this weaponisation of the virus has been met with contempt in the courts with many jail sentences at the higher end of what is possible.  

Officers from the Metropolitan Police applaud on Westminster Bridge in London to salute local heroes during Thursday's nationwide Clap for Carers NHS initiative to applaud NHS workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.Officers from the Metropolitan Police applaud on Westminster Bridge in London to salute local heroes during Thursday's nationwide Clap for Carers NHS initiative to applaud NHS workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Officers from the Metropolitan Police applaud on Westminster Bridge in London to salute local heroes during Thursday's nationwide Clap for Carers NHS initiative to applaud NHS workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

When my colleagues and I originally delivered the ‘Protect the Protectors’ Bill which created the new offence of assaulting an emergency worker, we never imagined it would be needed it this way.

At a time when the criminal justice system has largely been wound down, I am pleased to see that offences committed against emergency workers are still going to court as a priority. I’ve said it so many times before – prosecuting these offences shouldn’t be necessary but where it is necessary, we must prosecute hard.

Inevitably the police have come in for some criticism since the Coronavirus Bill was enacted, with different police forces  deploying varying levels of enforcement action.

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