Justice Minister Naomi Long pledges increased sentences for attacks on police officers

The minister has met the PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher to discuss pressures on officer numbers and the police service’s budget.The justice minister said: “It was good to meet with the chief constable and I look forward to working with him and his team as we address policing issues in Northern Ireland.“We discussed a range of issues facing policing at the moment including police pay, budget and policing numbers.”Mrs Long also reiterated her condemnation of recent attacks on police officers.The PSNI revealed that 25 officers were attacked during a 24-hour period at the weekend.Mrs Long said: “No-one should be attacked for carrying out their daily duties.“I plan to bring forward new legislation in this mandate to increase the maximum sentence for such attacks and make serious assaults on frontline workers a statutory aggravating factor.”