Protection for police drivers: legislation will change

31 January 2020

An official from the Home Office attended the second day of the Roads Policing Conference to discuss progress with the new legislation required to give police drivers better protection.

Steven Toal, who works in the Policing Powers Unit, took to the stage alongside the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for police pursuits.

“I was really pleased that Steven could attend conference. For many years, officers have questioned whether we would ever convince the Government of the day that a change in the law was required so that the skills and training of police drivers could be taken into account rather than simply assessing them against the standard of the ‘careful and competent driver’,” says Tim Rogers, deputy secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and national Police Federation lead on pursuits.

“Now, with the Police Powers and Protections Bill outlined in the Queen’s Speech, we can finally say our campaign has been successful and we have achieved what we set out to do, allowing police officers to get on with the job they are trained to perform.

“I think officers are slowly starting to believe and understand that this change is going to happen.”

Tim, who has headed up the Federation campaign for the last six years, is now heavily involved in discussions around how police officers’ driving will be assessed.

A common standard is likely to be set by the College of Policing. Tim’s counterpart at the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) could then allocate cases to a panel of practitioners, including driver trainer school personnel, and their decisions would then be peer reviewed and peer checked

“With 8 million immediate response drives a year, and a minimum of 12,000 pursuits a year, the change in legislation required to give police drivers the legal protection they require and deserve really cannot come soon enough,” says Tim.

“For far too long, officers have faced lengthy conduct and criminal investigations simply for doing the job they are trained to do.”