‘Protection’ for police drivers in pursuits

A ‘CATALOGUE of shame’ has left police drivers finding themselves on the wrong side of the law, a session on roads policing heard at the recent police federation conference.

New legislation means police drivers will be able to use their training and expertise in pursuits and be appropriately protected in law, but this is dependentonthemhavingup-todate training.

Extra protection for police drivers was included in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The new law takes into account officers’ advanced driver training – meaning they will no longer be judged against a ‘carefulandcompetent’driving member of the public. However, any manoeuvre performed must be within their training.

Lindsey Campbell, north representative for Hampshire PoliceFederation,said:‘Ifound the input really useful regarding the driver legislation because the most high risk, high frequency part of our day to day role would be response driving.’

Tim Rogers, national lead for pursuits and driver training, described a ‘catalogue of shame’ where officers were on the wrong side of the law, embroiled in lengthy criminal and misconduct investigationswhichhavecauseduntold stress.

‘We are in a better position because we campaigned for eightyears.It’samajorachievement,’ he said.

Simon Hill, from Metropolitan Police Federation, acknowledged that officers do expect to be scrutinised when things go wrong. He said: ‘We understand there is a requirement for us to be scrutinised when things don’t go right, the whole misconduct process must have confidence from the public and police officers alike in the process.’