Fire service chiefs are calling for body-cameras to be worn by all crews following a rise in violent attacks during lockdown.
Firefighters have been verbally and physically assaulted while responding to anti-social behaviour.
Body-worn cameras could led
Chris Lowther, the Chief of Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, is urging forces to adopt body-worn cameras to increase the chances of successful prosecutions.
He is also calling for there to be an automatic custodial sentence for any one who assaults an emergency worker.
Currently such offences receive a 12 month maximum sentence.
Since 2018, when the Government introduced a specific offence of assaulting an emergency worker, 9000 offenders have been sentenced but only 17 per cent have been handed an immediate custodial sentence.
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