Kent Police Federation responds after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calls for more respect

Kent's Police Federation are calling for stronger punishments for those who hurt the police.

It follows comments made by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper who said respect for officers needed to be restored after last weeks riots.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she believes there is 'lots of rebuilding to be done' starting with 'respect for the police, respect for the law, and respect for each other'.

In response, the chair of Kent's Police Federation said: "The ability to tell lies on social media are all factors that play into a lack of respect toward the police.

"Though I must stress that in Kent, the majority of folks do respect the police and it's always the minority that believe they can get away with these types of behaviours.

"This would be helped by very strong repercussion for those individuals that hurt the police, break the law and injure our officers and we know that those levels are increasing, it's higher than it's ever been before.

"We need significant consequences for those people that choose to behave in this way. I speak to colleagues who are facing policing more difficult now and that's down to society and the digital behaviours of the world.

"However, most of the public are still very grateful to see our officers and do respect them so we need to be careful to make sure to look after the public who are supportive of us and look after us."