Parliament passes Crimes Amendment Bill

Parliament has passed the Crimes Amendment Bill which proposes to increase the maximum penalty of assaulting a police officer from 5 years imprisonment to 10 years imprisonment.

Acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum had highlighted the reason they have done so, is to ensure that whilst they have increased the budget funding for the Fiji Police Force and given them increased salary government also needs to ensure that a law is there to fortify the authority of the Police officers which has waned over a number of years.

He adds that now with the Commissioner of Police carrying out the modernization of the Fiji Police Force, it is one institution that must be safeguarded.

In supporting the bill, NFP leader, Professor Biman Prasad says it is essential to legislate deterrence of any crime and threatening to assault a Police Officer is a serious offence and a challenge to the authority of the uniform.

He adds that the Police Force has long been regarded as the ultimate guarantor of peace, security and law and order in our nation adding that there is no doubt that policemen and policewomen have been assaulted in their line of duty in the past and a 10-year sentence is a sufficient deterrent.

However, he says that we also need to ensure that ordinary citizens who fall victim to police brutality are treated in the same way and harsher penalties are enforced.

He has also highlighted in parliament that people should recognize and understand that the professionalism of the Police Force has taken a battering because of all four coups, 2 in 1987, 2000 and 2006 and that all coups have damaged not just the Police institution but other institutions adding that men and women of the Police Force also need to be protected.

Opposition MP, Mosese Bulitavu while opposing the bill says that it comes down to the respect of the uniform and the role that they play as Police Officers in our society.

He adds that the respect and the trust that was there for Police Officers has been lost adding that the 5-year sentence to deter offenses against Police Officers is sufficient.

Under the bill people can face imprisonment of up to 10 years if the person assaults a police officer in any of the following circumstances— he or she bites, spits on or throws at the police officer, or otherwise applies to the police officer a bodily fluid or human or animal faeces; he or she is, or pretends to be, armed with a dangerous or offensive weapon or instrument; or he or she causes bodily harm to the police officer.