Police union stands behind Kelly petition

The head of the NSW police union has written a personal message of support to Ralph Kelly and his push for tougher sentencing laws following the death of his teenage son.

Kieran Loveridge was jailed for four years for killing 18-year-old Thomas Kelly with a single punch to the head in Kings Cross in July 2012.

Ralph Kelly has been a staunch advocate of harsher penalties for drunk offenders who throw fatal punches and launched a petition on change.org demanding minimum sentencing laws for manslaughter.

The petition, which has garnered 129,000 signatures, calls for alcohol or drugs to be identified as an aggravating factor when crimes are committed under their influence and for this to be taken into account in sentencing.

It also calls for the existing aggravating factor of conditional liberty to be extended to apply to any good behaviour bond.

The Kelly petition also wants youth and the inability of victims to defend themselves to be taken into account in sentencing.

The NSW Police Association has now flagged its support for the Kelly family's proposed reforms.

"Every week, families' lives are devastated as a result of alcohol-fuelled violence," NSW Police Association president Scott Weber wrote in a message to Ralph Kelly that has since been posted online.

"The key to reducing the carnage on our streets is stopping the problem at the source; stopping the violence before it occurs.

"But in the unfortunate instances when a few drinks do get out of hand, we also need to ensure offenders are faced with penalties that fit the crime.

"Regrettably police officers often see the same familiar faces committing offences time and again."

The NSW government has previously indicated it will consider new sentencing laws that would treat alcohol or drug use as an aggravating factor.

It comes as Fairfax Media reports Governor-General Quentin Bryce will attend the funeral of Sydney's latest one-punch victim, Daniel Christie, 18, who died on Saturday after being attacked in Kings Cross on New Year's Eve.