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Speaker 1: This week, another police officer was struck by a vehicle,

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Speaker 1: this time in Huntley. The officer suffered moderate injuries, and

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Speaker 1: it comes after the horrible New Year's Day incident in

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Speaker 1: which Senior Sergeant Lynn Fleming was killed in another officer

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Speaker 1: injured after being struck by a vehicle than Nelson. Police

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Speaker 1: Minister Mark Mitchell said on the My Costing Breakfast this

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Speaker 1: morning that police and first responders are increasingly dealing with violence,

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Speaker 1: and not just here in New Zealand but globally as well,

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Speaker 1: and it's good to hear Mitchell, alongside Paul Godsmith, planning

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Speaker 1: to bring a new legislation enter the House in the

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Speaker 1: first quarter of this year to bring tougher sentencing for

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Speaker 1: violent behavior towards first responders and prison officers. It would

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Speaker 1: have been better if it had been included in Goldsmith's

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Speaker 1: sentencing reforms, which had its first reading in Parliament last September.

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Speaker 1: Those reforms, too, are to ensure criminals face tougher consequences

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Speaker 1: and victims are prioritized. But this new legislation aimed at

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Speaker 1: defenders towards first responders, will not just impose tougher sentences

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Speaker 1: but will also clearly fine emergency service workers and require

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Speaker 1: sentence in sentencing to be cumulative rather than concurrent. It's

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Speaker 1: aimed at being a preventative measure, but something tells me

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Speaker 1: that offenders will get the message through experience rather than

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Speaker 1: media headlines. Look, we are it to our first responders

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Speaker 1: to give them as much support as possible. They go

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Speaker 1: to work and they deal with a level of risk

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Speaker 1: the rest of us don't have to confront. These laws

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Speaker 1: show we as New Zealanders, appreciate their work and are

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Speaker 1: prepared to do what we can to protect them. And

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Speaker 1: I hope the work to clarify who was a first

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Speaker 1: responder generally thought of as police paramedics in the fire

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Speaker 1: service is extended to hospital emergency staff and even other

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Speaker 1: health workers. The need for this legislation, this growing anger

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Speaker 1: and agitation experienced by many in public facing jobs, especially

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Speaker 1: those in retail, It makes you wonder what has happened

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Speaker 1: to us is a wider community. I mean you rarely

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Speaker 1: go into a shop without signs telling you kindness is

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Speaker 1: appreciated or that they will not tolerate abusive behavior. This

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Speaker 1: is common. Now? Is this a post COVID thing? Have

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Speaker 1: we just got more angry at the world. Is it

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Speaker 1: a need to be seen and heard? We seem to

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Speaker 1: have forgotten that the consequence of anger is often more

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Speaker 1: damaging than what made us angry in the first place. Hopefully,

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Speaker 1: at the least these tougher laws will achieve this and

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Speaker 1: help bring that back into perspective. For more from Hither

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Speaker 1: Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to news talks it'd be

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Speaker 1: from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.