Police drivers’ training to be recognised in law
16 October 2019
A bill that will ensure police drivers’ specialist training is recognised in law was one of 22 included in Monday’s Queen’s Speech.
The Queen’s Speech sets out the Government’s legislative programme or, as some political commentators have suggested in the current turmoil, General Election manifesto.
The Police Protections Bill would set a new test for police drivers who are currently judged against the standard of a normal member of the public - the careful, competent driver - for potential driving offences with no recognition of their unique role and specialist training.
Tim Rogers, deputy secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and national Federation response driving lead, has led a long-fought campaign for a change in the law to recognise police drivers’ skills when doing the job they are trained to do.
“I am pleased to see that the Government is holding true to its commitment to change the law. For far too long, professional police drivers have faced criminal prosecution when seeking to serve their communities in the way that the public would expect and in exactly the way in which they have been trained,” says Tim.
“Judging the fully trained, professional police driver against the standards of your average motorist is clearly not right. For example, a member of the public is not trained to ignore traffic signs, cross the carriageway and break speed limits to get to an incident where someone is at risk or a crime is in progress. But these are all things police drivers are trained and expected to do so they can protect the public.
“Despite the cynicism around the Government’s legislative plans, this bill has cross-party support – as well as the backing of the IOPC - and it the most likely to make progress. The Government has a duty to protect police officers when they are driving according to their specialised skills and training and this bill will ensure that is the case.”
The Police Protections Bill also includes provisions for Special Constables to access the support and representation of the Federation an commits the Home Office to report annually on the Police Covenant, which will focus on officers’ health and wellbeing and support the families of those injured or killed in the line of duty.
The Queen’s Speech also outlined a number of other bills relating to sentencing and policing.
The Serious Violence Bill will commit councils, social services, schools, healthcare services and other bodies to share information to ‘prevent serious violence’ while the Domestic Abuse Bill will prevent alleged perpetrators cross-examining their victims, create a statutory definition of domestic abuse and give accusers automatic access to special measures in court.
The Sentencing Bill will see prisoners typically serving two thirds of their sentences rather than half, expands the reasons judges can impose whole life sentences and brings in tougher sentences for violent and sexual offenders.
