No early release from jail for those who assault officers, say police chiefs

This is the message of a new campaign – Assault The Police? No Early Release – from the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) and the Scottish Police Federation (SPF).

They say assaults against police officers and staff remain a “persistent and deeply concerning feature” of operational policing in Scotland.

In 2024/25 alone, more than 7,159 such assaults were recorded – an average of nearly 20 a day.

Officers are being punched, kicked, spat on and attacked with weapons, including motor vehicles, simply for doing their job, said the ASPS and SPF.

In the current financial year, figures show that 90 per cent of assaults recorded against emergency services workers were against police officers. These figures are up in region of 11 per cent.

Chief Superintendent Rob Hay, president of the ASPS, and David Threadgold, chair of the SPF, have joined forces to try to drive down this “concerning rise” in attacks against their colleagues.

Today (November 4) Chief Supt Hay has written to Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs, to express his concern that such assailants may be eligible for early release schemes, designed primarily to alleviate systemic pressures in the prison system, rather than to uphold public confidence or safety.

He has also called on politicians of all parties – ahead of the Scottish government elections next year – to commit to protecting the country’s protectors by ensuring those who attack police officers serve the stiff prison sentences they deserve.

Chief Supt Hay said: “We need a proper deterrent against what is becoming an escalating and deeply concerning problem. The physical injuries sustained from being assaulted can be serious and long-lasting.

“Violent crime in Scotland is up throughout our communities – more than 16,000 such attacks so far this year – and the people bearing the brunt of this rise are Scotland’s hard working and brave police officers.

“This is becoming the worrying reality for every police officer. That every police officer sadly gets assaulted. The psychological impact is often more insidious and enduring: repeated exposure to violence erodes morale, breeds anxiety, and undermines confidence in the criminal justice system.

“Both rob our service of the availability of officers, straining our capacity. Our officers rightly expect that those who attack them will be held accountable and face appropriate consequences.

“Police officers are not robots. We must also remember that behind ever assault number is a human being – mothers, fathers, husbands, wives and partners and sons and daughters.

“We need a proper deterrent… Assault The Police? No Early Release.”

He added: “Those who strike at the guardians of the law strike, by extension, at the rule of law in Scotland.

committing this crime against Scottish society need to serve the sentences they are handed. And not be released back into our community early. That sends a terrible and unacceptable message.”

Scotland’s early release scheme, established by the Prisoners (Early Release) (Scotland) Act 2025, allows most short-term prisoners to be released after serving 40 per cent of their sentence instead of the previous 50 per cent. This does not apply to prisoners serving sentences for domestic abuse or sexual offenses.

The call is to add those assaulting police officers to this list.

Chief Supt Hay said – despite extensive questioning and requests for data – it is not currently known how many people serving time for assaulting police officers have or will be released early.

And this also needs to be properly recorded, he said. Also how many then go on to commit further such offences.

SPF chair Mr Threadgold, Chair of the Scottish Police Federation, said: ‘As the Scottish government’s only response to an ever increasing prison population seems to be the early release of prisoners – who, as it is acknowledged by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, have had limited, if any opportunity for rehabilitation within the prison estate – it is even more imperative that an appropriate deterrent to those who assault police officers should be in place.

“This government must consider the impact on my colleagues of being exposed to repeated and unsustainable levels of violence in the workplace and provide confidence to police pfficers, and the public across Scotland that they take this matter seriously.

“The “Assault The Police? No Early Release” campaign is one way of doing that.”

He added: “We need our officers to be fit, well and able to serve the communities of Scotland. Any decision to remove the right for early release for criminals with a conviction for assaulting a police officer will, I have no doubt, reduce the frequency of police assaults as those convicted of this terrible crime serve the sentences passed down on them in full. I believe the public would expect nothing less.”

ASPS and SPF hope that politicians of all parties will come on board to support the campaign and that they can send a clear message that protecting those who protect others must remain a matter of principle, not expediency.