City Rangers under attack

It seems dangerous encounters are all in a day’s work for Sydney City Rangers, who have had 50 assaults recorded against them in the last 12 months, including being head-butted, spat on and receiving death threats.
The figures have come in the wake of new that increase the seriousness of offences against council staff such as rangers, lifeguards, environmental enforcement officers and animal control enforcement officers.
The amendment to the Crimes Act will protect council staff in the same way as police and bus drivers by upgrading the offence to aggravated assault.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore welcomed the new laws as a recognising the importance of council officers but said their effectiveness would be limited in preventing the crimes.
Figures released by the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils revealed that between July 2007 and June 2008 some 31 serious assaults, 41 common assaults and more than 1,000 incidents of verbal abuse, intimidation and harassment had been recorded against their officers.
“Violence is not an accepted behaviour in our society and if it is becoming more prevalent then we, as a community, need to address the issue before it escalates any further,” said NSW Local Government Association President, Genia McCaffery, in a recent press statement.
Two recent incidents against City of Sydney rangers resulted in the offenders being arrested.
A City spokesperson said that Rangers are provided training on how to diffuse potentially troublesome situations, including a ‘walk away’ policy, but have no discretion when issuing tickets.
“The best advice to motorists to avoid being fined is to read the time restrictions on parking signs carefully and not park illegally,” said the spokesperson.