FEDERATION APPEALS TO PROTECT POLICE FROM ‘UNFAIR’ LAWS

DERBYSHIRE police officers commit offences every time they chase down criminals on the roads.

Under current law, officers in police cars chasing criminals are exempt from prosecution from a number of road traffic offfences. These include not stopping at a red light, exceeding the speed limit and driving on the off-side of the road around bollards.

However, when conducting a chase, a police officer can still be prosecuted for dangerous driving or careless driving, even though they are doing as they were trained to.

Tony Wetton, Chairman of the Derbyshire Police Federation, says that this is not acceptable, but the Federation has stopped short of advising police officers not to pursue criminals. He said: “We are aware that there is jeopardy for police officers whenever they drive to an emergency or pursue a criminal and there is no protection for them in the law at the moment.

“Whilst officers chasing criminals are exempt from prosecution for not stopping at a red light, exceeding the speed limit, and driving on the off-side of the road around bollards (keep left signs), they are not exempt from the offences of careless driving and dangerous driving.

“This is because the law defines careless driving as ‘driving that falls below the standard expected of a careful and competent driver.’ Dangerous driving simply falls far below that same standard.”

There is no defence for this in court, as the officer cannot deny that they acted in a way that the “careful and competent driver” would not.

Mr Wetton said: “The issue is that police officers are extremely welltrained and are trained to drive differently to how a normal driver would.

“They have to drive to a different standard to get to emergency situations quickly enough to help protect the public. They are trained to treat red traffic lights as a Give Way, for example. A ‘careful and competent’ driver would not do that. So officers chasing criminals on the roads should not be judged by the standards of the average driver. They should have their own standards that they adhere to. A failure to meet these standards Tony Wetton of the Police Federation Police are trained to drive differently than normal motorists in pursuit situations