Page 14 - WMPF Federation April-May2021_Neat

New legislation

More work needed

to properly protect

police drivers

The formal introduction to Parliament of “So as this bill passes to the committee target vehicle being driven the wrong way
the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts and report stages, we need to further down a dual carriageway, leading to a clear
Bill is a significant step towards giving engage with the Government to ensure all risk to the public and an expectation that
police drivers the legal protections they the finer details of the legislation are as the police would act.
need when doing their job, says West they should be to make this truly fit for However, there is no provision for this
Midlands Police Federation deputy purpose.” in the Approved Professional Practice or the
secretary Tim Rogers. Tim adds that as the initial draft TAC directory so this again could lead to an
But Tim, who is also the national legislation stands it has the potential to officer being charged with a criminal
Federation’s driver training and response see more officers being charged under the offence. There has to be an acceptance that
driving lead, says that more work still very changes being introduced to offer officers are expected on occasion to react
needs to be done to ensure the new them better legal protection. instinctively in order to protect the public.
legislation does not serve to further He explains: “It is impossible for every Tim is now seeking to have this matter
criminalise officers if they breach national element of police driving to be covered by raised with policing minister Kit Malthouse.
driving policies. policy but any deviance of policy, perhaps “We need an exemption to the offence
“After more than six years of simply because a certain tactic is not to be included on the legislation to reflect
campaigning for a change in the law to included in a driver training directory, could the fact that there will be occasions where
ensure that officers’ specialist training and lead to a conclusion that a criminal offence an officer is expected to act outside of their
skills can be taken into account when their has been committed. We need an licensed training,” says Tim, “This is
driving is assessed, I was pleased to see exemption to cover these matters. something I raised almost three years ago
this bill unveiled in the House of “Police officers simply should not be as part of the public consultation on this
Commons,” says Tim. singled out for criminal prosecution for legislation and also in our original
“It has been a long process to get to behaviour which, if it occurred in any other submission on this issue in 2016.
this point and I am grateful to everyone profession, would be a matter for “We have to be able to prevent
who has supported this campaign. The regulation and a civil action. situations to arise whereby police officers
proposed changes to the law set out to “Under the current provisions of the could be criminalised for acting to protect
ensure that officers are no longer assessed bill, a police driver driving above the the public.”
by the standards of the careful and standard of the careful and competent He is suggesting wording that would
competent driver which was clearly not member of the public but below that of an set out reasons why officers could depart
right. elite class of police driver would potentially from the usual standard by which they
“But, as the bill progresses through the render themselves liable to criminal would be judged including the departure
various stages of becoming law, we have prosecution.” being ‘reasonable’ and ‘proportionate’ in
to ensure that there is close scrutiny of the By way of example, Tim explains that a the circumstances.
wording of the new legislation. The current police officer who delivers a sub-standard Tim believes the effective use of the
wording will see officers’ driving assessed commentary during a pursuit could fall legislation will be backed up by the
according to the standard of the careful foul of the new standard and risk being establishment of driving standards units
and competent police driver and could prosecuted for driving without due care within forces, a move already followed by
serve to criminalise breaches of driving and attention. West Midlands Police and the Kent, Essex
policy. He also cites an incident involving a and Lancashire forces.

14 federation April/May 2021 www.polfed.org/westmids