It is now illegal to commit an offence against police or other emergency service workers who are responding to a callout.
The Sentencing (Aggravating Factors) Amendment Bill has passed its third and final reading in Parliament, making such offending an aggravating factor at sentencing.
Previously, there was no requirement for a judge to consider whether the victim was a first responder when sentencing an offender.
Justice Minister Judith Collins says the new law sends a clear message that offending against our first responders will not be tolerated.
"Our police, prison officers, ambulance staff, paramedics, doctors, nurses and fire fighters put their own lives at risk every day to rescue, save and protect their fellow New Zealanders.
"They are the community's first line of defence against dangerous offenders and the first at the scene of serious accidents, fires and life-threatening situations," said Ms Collins.
The Bill introduces two new aggravating factors to section 9(1) of the Sentencing Act 2002.
The law comes on the heels of a female paramedic being hijacked in her ambulance by two drug-addled teenagers when answering a 111 call north of Auckland on her own. She then had to keep working to take one of their friends to hospital.
One of the youths threatened to kill the ambulance officer as she worked alone in Warkworth unless she drove to help their two friends who were overdosing on drugs.
The main issue raised in the case was the dangers paramedics face while working solo.
The Government agreed to give an extra $48 million over four years to pay for 100 new paramedics following a Health Select Committee review in 2007 after union concerns that single crewing of ambulances in some parts of New Zealand posed a risk to patients' health and, at times, the safety of ambulance officers.
- Kate Shuttleworth of APNZ
