Police Officers as Victims
| Author | Regina E Rauxloh,Osman Isfen |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018316685477 |
| Published date | 01 February 2017 |
| Date | 01 February 2017 |
Article
Police Officers as Victims:
Sentencing Standards and
their Justifications in England
and Germany
Osman Isfen
FernUniversita
¨t in Hagen, Germany
Regina E Rauxloh
University of Southampton, UK
Abstract
While there is plenty of research into crime committed by police officers, surprisingly little
debate can be found regarding the situation where a police officer becomes a victim. This is
remarkable as the police not only embody criminal law enforcement but also epitomise state
power. Based on a comparative study, this article examines how criminal law in England and
Germany deals with attacks against police officers through separate criminal offences as well as
increased sentences. The authors examine how the use of criminal law reflects on the state’s
perception and valuation of the role of the police officer. It will be shown that while in England
there is the clear understanding that the status of the victim as police officer has an aggravating
effect, Germany strongly opposes the idea that the office-holder deserves more protection
than ordinary citizens. On the contrary, the law takes in consideration that the offender finds
him- or herself in a vulnerable situation when faced with the power of the state.
Keywords
Police officers as victims, resistance against law enforcement, sentencing standards,
comparison England and Germany, mitigating and aggravating circumstances
Introduction
In the context of criminal law, law enforcement is usually associated with the role of the police in
protecting the victim of crime, but one easily forgets that quite often police officers themselves become
the victim of violence. Interestingly, while crimes committed by police officers are subject to extensive
research and debate, violence against police officers rarely appears in literature, legislation or case law.
Corresponding author:
Regina E Rauxloh, School of Law, University of Southampton, Highfield Southampton SO17 1BJ, UK.
Email: r.e.rauxloh@soton.ac.uk
The Journal of Criminal Law
2017, Vol. 81(1) 33–49
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018316685477
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It is only in recent years that there has been empirical research into the extent of violent attacks against
police officers. For example, the German state of Bavaria compiled its first statistics regarding violence
against police officers as late as 2011. This data records 13,000 cases of assault and insults against police
officers in one year alone. As many as 1,680 officers were injured, 13 of whom suffered serious harm.
Data provided by the Police Union in North-Rhine Westphalia indicates that numbers are rising, with
incidents of assaults increasing in 2013 by 500 to 7,092 and the number of victimised police officers
from 10,831 to nearly 12,000.
1
From those, 1,800 were injured, of whom six suffered serious injuries.
2
The head of the Police Union in Nord-Rhine Westphalia, Arnold Plickert, explained that in many cases
just the arrival of a uniformed officer is enough to prompt an attack.
3
Whilst other data suggests a slow
decrease of violent attacks against police officers in 2013
4
, the total number is still shockingly high. The
German Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) counted 6,200 officers as victims of crime
in 2014, an increase of 6.3%within one year.
5
Head of the Baden Wurttemberg Police Union, R¨
udiger
Seidenspinner, estimated that at least two police officers are injured every day.
6
In England and Wales,
7
recent information provided by Police Minister Mike Penning (in response to a question from Labour
MP Andrew Gwynne) revealed that 18,882 officers have been assaulted on duty over the last three years.
This data has, however, been strongly criticised by PoliceOracle.com, who claim that the number of
assaults was actually as high as 32,864. Unfortunately, there is currently no agency recording the overall
assaults on police officers in England.
8
At the same time, the police not only embody criminal law enforcement but also epitomises state
power. Thus, the role of the police officer as a subject to an attack has a political meaning that goes
beyond the traditional objectives of criminal law. The aim of this article is to shed light on how the use of
criminal law as the harshest response of the state to an infringement of its norms reflects on the state’s
perception and valuation of the role of the police offi cer.
9
Based on a comparative study between
England and Germany, this article addresses the question of how criminal law deals with attacks against
police officers through separate criminal offences as well as increased sentences. It examines how the
state uses criminal law as a means to deal with attacks against police officers (as a person situated in a
dangerous situation as well as in their function of representatives of the state). The authors will look at
three aspects of crimes committed against police officers. First, the article examines the specific offences
in England and Germany regarding resistance again law enforcers. With regard to Germany, the article
will focus on the recent landmark decision of the German Federal Supreme Court regarding the prohibi-
tion of double counting. Secondly, we will look at non-lethal attacks on police officers, which are not
criminalised as separate offences in England or Germany, but where the status of the victim as office-
holder might be reflected at the sentencing stage. Thirdly, the article analysis at the law of homicide and
explores how the killing of police officers is treated at the sentencing stage, especially regarding the
1. K. Frigelj, ‘Wo Beamte Zielscheiben in Uniform sind’ (2014) Die Welt 15 April. Available at www.welt.de/politik/deutschland/
article126959656/Wo-Beamte-Zielscheiben-in-Uniform-sind.html (accessed 12 September 2015).
2. Ibid. This trend is confirmed for the whole of Germany by the numbers of the German Federal Criminal Police Office statistics
(Bundeskriminalamt, Polizeiliche Kriminalstatsisik). Available at www.bka.de/DE/Publikationen/PolizeilicheKriminal
statistik/2013/2013Standardtabellen/pks2013StandardtabellenOpferUebersicht.html. (accessed 12 September 2015).
3. See Frigelj, above n. 2.
4. C. Cornelius, ‘Gewerkschaften fordern einen ernsteren Umgang’ Die Welt 6 March 2014. Available at www.welt.de/regio
nales/stuttgart/article125519274/Gewerkschaften-fordern-einen-ernsteren-Umgang.html. (accessed 12 September 2015).
5. dpa, Mehr Angriffe auf Polizisten – Innenminister fordert abermals Schutzparagrafen, Frankfurter Allgemeine 4 August 2015.
6. See Cornelius, above n. 5.
7. Hereafter referred to England.
8. WestYorkshire Police Federation ‘Home Office Under Records Police Officer Assault Figures’. Available at www.wypf.pol
fed.org/2014/09/25/home-office-under-records-police-officer-assault-figures/ (accessed October 2015).
9. Of course this is only one aspect of the picture and other related questions such as funding, organisation, control, etc. of the
police need to be studied in other research projects.
34 The Journal of Criminal Law 81(1)
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