Iowa Attorney General calls for harsher penalties for assaults on first responders

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Iowa’s Attorney General is calling for heightened penalties for assaults on law enforcement officers and first responders.

It comes as the number of assaults against them is the highest been in the last decade.

In 2023, almost 80,000 officers were assaulted on the job nationally.

Almost 500 of those assaults included officers injured by a firearm, according to the FBI.

That’s why Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says it’s time for the punishment to change.

She hopes to raise the penalty for any type of assault from a serious misdemeanor to an aggravated misdemeanor, with a mandatory minimum sentence of a week in jail.

For assaults that cause bodily injury, she wants to raise the penalty to an aggravated misdemeanor to a class D felony.

And for those involving a dangerous weapon or meant to inflict serious injury, she wants to raise the penalty from a class D to a class C felony.

Currently, misdemeanors in Iowa do not carry any mandatory minimum sentences.

Changing these assaults from Class D to Class C felonies would raise the fines from up to $7500 to $10,000, and increase the possible jail time from up to five years to up to ten years.