Injured officer joins fight for higher penalties for police assaults
A police officer who contracted oral herpes after an offender spat in her face has joined the call for harsher penalties for anyone convicted of assaulting an emergency services worker.
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One sickening act has left Senior Constable Alison Coad with a life-altering ailment.
As she was attempting to arrest a woman during a disturbance in Whitmore Square, the agitated female offender deliberately spat into her face.
After doing so, the woman taunted Snr Const. Coad, yelling “Sucked in, I’ve got AIDS, hep C and herpes and you’ll get them, too.”
Sadly, Snr Const. Coad became one of the few police officers to contract a communicable disease out of the dozens spat on every year.
Since the 2003 incident, Snr Const. Coad, 53, suffers an outbreak of mouth ulcers almost every month.
“It has a massive impact on my family, my work, my colleagues and my career. I can’t go forward because I now work reduced hours and when I’m off sick I let my team down,’’ she said.
“It was a deliberate, nasty attack. She did it with such malice, almost like she got a kick out of it, knowing she was potentially going to give me something. I think that hurts more than anything.’’
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens yesterday expressed concern at the treatment of offenders charged with spitting on police officers after it was revealed many have received suspended sentences in the first instance after being convicted or after appealing against a sentence.
The Police Association has launched a campaign for a new law with harsher penalties for assaulting police. It also wants sentencing laws amended to ensure suspended sentences are only handed out in exceptional circumstances.
Snr Const. Coad said she strongly believed there should be a new offence created with stronger penalties for offenders who assault emergency services workers – especially where spitting is involved.
“I feel that if I have a life sentence for my condition, then why should an offender get a lesser sentence; I don’t agree they should be suspended,’’ she said.
“It’s not just my case. Working in the city watch-house I see my colleagues being spat on all the time and the stress they go through following that.
“People just do not have the respect for police they once had. Drugs have changed everything.
“People need to be held accountable for their actions. Some of them wear it like a trophy because they know they’ll get off.
“Few of them show remorse. They walk away, they don’t suffer any consequences for their actions but we live with it every day.’’
Snr Const. Coad said she was troubled by the fact her attacker, Jennifer Lee Simon, was never likely to face justice.
Simon fled to NSW while awaiting trial on charges of hindering and assaulting police. While an arrest warrant taken out in July 2005 is still active, Simon is not likely to be extradited because of the cost of doing so relative to the charge.
“It still upsets me that she has avoided any sanction for what she has done to me,’’ Snr. Const. Coad said.
“I feel let down that the charge has not been upgraded knowing what she has given me.
“I also feel what’s the point in pursuing it because she’ll only get a slap on the wrist. If that is the case, it’s wasted effort and will only be more stress on me.
“This is not just my case – look at all the other assault police cases every year where that happens.’’
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