Thousands rally to support WA police - Update

Warwick Stanley
March 17, 2009 - 8:04PM

More than 2,500 people have rallied outside Parliament House in Perth to
support laws for the mandatory sentencing of people who assault police and
other public officers.

Perth policeman Matthew Butcher, who was left partially paralysed and has
impaired sight after being knocked unconscious by a headbutt during a pub
melee, has become the catalyst for legislation.

Constable Butcher and his wife Katrina joined hundreds of uniformed police
and ambulance and fire officers who waved banners and shouted slogans at the
rally held in front of the parliament steps.

Police Minister Rob Johnson and Attorney-General Christian Porter told the
crowd they were joining them by fighting for the bill, which was being debated
by parliament on Tuesday.

The Labor opposition has introduced amendments to include nurses, health
care workers, fire fighters and teachers, who are currently not included in the
mandatory sentencing provisions.

WA Premier Colin Barnett and other ministers and MPs attended the rally
with senior police officers, including Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan.

The rally was organised by the police union after a jury last week found three
Perth men not guilty of assaulting Constable Butcher and other police.

In the fracas outside the Joondalup Old Bailey Tavern in February last year,
Constable Butcher was felled by what prosecutors described as a "flying headbutt"
from 29-year-old Barry McLeod.

Mr McLeod, his father Robert McLeod, 56, and brother Scott McLeod, 35, were
found not guilty of assaulting Constable Butcher.

In the only conviction against the men, Scott McLeod was fined $4,000 for
making threats to kill a civilian who recorded the incident on his mobile phone.

Six WA police have been assaulted and four injured in attacks since Thursday's
court verdict.

One of the injured, Constable Tristan Taylor, remains in a serious condition in
hospital with spinal injuries after being struck in the back by a full bottle of
bourbon while trying to break up a brawl at a street party on Saturday night.

WA Police Union president Mike Dean told the rally it was time parliament
responded to the wishes of the public and introduced the mandatory
sentencing legislation. He said lawyers were taking advantage of legal loopholes
to enable offenders to beat assault charges, and politicians were complicit by
failing to introduce tough laws.

Constable Butcher was cheered when he moved to sit beside the podium with
his wife, who told the crowd she was overwhelmed with the support for police.
"The thing that hurts me most as his wife is that I will not be able to watch him
pay his beloved football on Saturday afternoons, he doesn't come home from
work and tell me about his day after giving me a hug using both arms," Katrina
Butcher said."And in the future he won't be able to pick up our children and throw
them in the air or give them dizzy wizzies on the black lawn."

Mr O'Callaghan did not address the rally but said he had allowed officers to turn
up in uniform because of the "special need" to protect police.

The commissioner said while he supported the laws before parliament, he
wanted to assure the public that "people who push shopping trolleys into police
" will not be put in jail under the mandatory sentencing legislation.

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WA Police rally outside Parliament House today

Joseph Sapienza
March 17, 2009 - 11:14AM

Police will converge on Parliament House today to support the passage of the
mandatory sentencing legislation that will protect police officers against
violence.

Under the proposed bill, people who cause bodily harm to police officers
will receive an automatic jail term.

Other public officers also covered by the legislation are ambulance staff,
security guards on public transport and prison officers, but not nurses.

Premier Colin Barnett and Attorney-General Christian Porter said the
measures sought to protect those who work in dangerous and violent
situations.

This afternoon at 3pm, police officers and their supporters will be at
Parliament House to show their support for the new mandatory
sentencing legislation - which will be debated in the Lower House
today.

WA Police Union president Mike Dean said violence against police
officers in WA has reached dangerous levels.

He said officers were dealing with violence almost every hour.

Independent MP John Bowler said he is disgusted by recent attacks on
police officers, and fully supports mandatory jail terms for those who
assault police.

However, he wants to see protection extended to all public officers.

Police say they are fed up with the increasing violence against WA officers.

The rally comes almost a week after three men walked free from assault
charges stemming from a brawl which left Constable Matthew Butcher
seriously injured.

However, the Law Society of WA strongly opposes the mandatory
sentencing bill "because factual circumstances are many and varied and
the courts need discretion in sentencing to properly take into account all
factors."

Society president Dudley Stowe said these new laws will not result in a
large reduction in assaults on police officers.

"Mandatory sentencing will not prevent assaults on police," he said.

"For decades, murder carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment
in Western Australia, yet murders are continued to be committed.

"We acknowledge the need to protect our police officers and emergency
workers and ensure their safety whilst serving the community - however
in this instance, the courts should retain their existing discretion in
determining sentences on criminal charges."

He called on all sides of politics to not give in to "knee-jerk" legislation
following recent high-profile cases involving assaults on police officers.