Federation calls for more consistent assessment of officers’ driving standards

14 January 2021

All police drivers must be assessed to a consistent standard to ensure they do not fall foul of a new law designed to offer them better protection in law, says the Federation’s national response and driver training lead.

Tim Rogers fears a lack of knowledge and understanding among those assessing officers’ driving and inconsistent practices both around the country and even within individual forces could still lead to conduct or legal action against officers when the Police Powers and Protections Bill, which is due before Parliament next week, becomes law in the autumn.

“The Federation campaigned for police drivers’ specialist training and expertise to be taken into account under traffic laws,” explains Tim, who is also deputy secretary of West Midlands Police Federation, “We were seeing far too many officers facing years of conduct or criminal investigation for dangerous driving when in reality they had been using their skills and training to do the job they were asked to do.

“This has now been addressed and the new bill introduces a new test for police drivers.”

This means officers will be regarded as driving dangerously only if:

• The way they drive falls far below what would be expected of a competent and careful constable who has undertaken the same prescribed training or who has the same prescribed skills, and

• It would be obvious to such a competent and careful constable that driving in that way would be dangerous.

Tim, who led a five-year Federation campaign for a change to the legislation, explains: “We welcome this change but if we have people tasked with judging an officer’s driving they must firstly be fully aware of the standard required but also ensure they are consistent and professional in their approach.

“As it stands currently, I am afraid we can have five similar driving matters being reviewed with five different outcomes from a Chief’s Commendation to a Notice of Prosecution and that cannot be right. We can see some officers getting words of advice while others are being suspended or being subject to conduct investigations.”

West Midlands Police has drafted a new policy detailing how it will deal with incidents involving police vehicles and is looking to appoint four full-time staff in the Driver Standards Unit (DSU) who will be tasked with assessing matters of concern about officer and staff driving.

It is hoped this initiative, which is supported by the Federation, will make assessments more consistent giving officers and staff the confidence that if they follow their training they will be assessed against the standards they have been trained to, supported and treated fairly.

Tim hopes this approach, which follows a successful scheme in Kent, will be rolled out nationwide.

“We now have consistent driver training in place that has been approved by the College of Policing but we need to ensure there is consistent assessment of officers’ standard of driving when the need arises,” says Tim, “All police drivers have to drive and perform tactics in exactly the way that they have been trained in driver training units.

“Your average driving member of the public probably never drives exactly as they did in their driving test but that is not an option for police drivers. The specialist training they receive sets the standard by which they will be assessed so to avail themselves of the protections set out in the law they must follow their training.

“The training is there for a reason. Driving a car at speed or contrary to any road signs or restrictions in place comes at a risk and that risk is only mitigated by officers following their training to the letter.

“Having people in place who can assess all police drivers’ standards of driving consistently is now critical. They will also be impartial and will be expected to work in a timely manner, giving a proportionate response both within the Force and to external partners.”

The DSU will also be able to identify trends in relation to drivers’ behaviour, manage driver authorities, target bespoke training to help maintain driver standards and develop a programme of assessments and re-assessments.

It will also be able to prevent supervisors inappropriately suspending officers from driving and depriving the Force of a resource.

“But, of course, the other balance to this is that they will also be able to properly deal with officers who pose a risk through poor driver behaviour,” says Tim.

“The Police Powers and Protections Bill is to be welcomed and I am pleased that officers’ training and expertise can now be taken into account in law, however, we now need to ensure that we don’t leave them at risk because of inconsistencies in the way in which their driving is assessed,” says Tim.

“We are also seeking assurances from the Home Office that the new legislation will not criminalise minor breaches of policy which, of course, would be totally against the essence of this change in the law. More has to be done to ensure all forces have the same policies, and assessment standards, in place.”