‘Roads policing must be prioritised by Force’

9 March 2022

The Force must make sure that roads policing is given the priority it needs and deserves or it risks continuing to fail the communities it serves.

That is the view of Tim Rogers, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and national Federation lead for driver training.

Tim says he has repeatedly called on the Force to make road safety one of its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which would ensure that progress in this area was regularly assessed and prioritised by chief officers.

“The Force currently prioritises for regular discussion and accountability 25 KPIs,” says Tim, “But not one of them relates to road accidents or road safety. What message does that send out to the families of those killed or seriously injured on the roads we police? The Force states that these are covered but absorbed within other priorities.

“If the road harm KPI  specifically linked to deaths or serious injuries on our roads was deemed a priority then chief officers would hold to account its officers would apply appropriate budget and resource for the Force’s performance and record in this area. This reputationally important area of business needs to be on the regular performance agenda for our Force. Where does our Force sit in terms of reducing casualties on our roads?

“Figures released last summer showed that 49 people died on roads in the West Midlands during 2020 with the Department for Transport statistics also revealing that more than 700 people suffered serious or potentially life-threatening injuries.

“We owe it to these people, and their families, to make sure the Force is doing all it can to keep people as safe as possible on our roads.

“But it’s not just about reducing road deaths and casualties, criminals are using are roads and effective roads policing can help tackle this criminality.”

Tim believes the Force should also ensure a share of any extra funds it receives is allocated to roads policing and, welcoming the Government Uplift Programme through which 20,000 officers are being recruited nationwide, hopes an increase in officer numbers also means an increase in designated roads policing officers.

He fears roads policing has become the poor relation in the police service with a 30 per cent reduction in dedicated roads policing officers in the last 10 years.

“Roads policing has to be seen as an essential part of the whole police service we provide,” says Tim, “It is not something that we should choose to do as and when we have the resources or funding, it is something that we have to do 24/7, 365 days a year.

“This has been recognised by the police inspectorate with Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services acknowledging that roads policing is seen as less of a priority than other areas of policing with spending having been reduced by more than a third.

“The report also found that more than half of forces make no reference to roads policing in their crime plans and said there was a clear and pressing need for the Government, police and crime commissioners, chief officers and the College of Policing to recognise the importance of roads policing in reducing deaths on the roads.”

The West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Simon Foster, does highlight the need for more to be done to make the region’s roads safer for pedestrians and road users and has set out measures to see how effective the Force is by monitoring road traffic casualties, speeding, driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving without insurance and incidents of street racing.

Tim explained: “We welcome the fact that the PCC has included reference to roads policing in the Police and Crime Plan for 2021-2025 but we now need to see the Force ensuring that roads policing is covered in its own KPIs, only then will we see this critical area of policing being given the priority it needs and our communities deserve.

“Of course, we are pleased to see that the Uplift Programme is boosting officer numbers but we would also like to see the PCC committing to investing in the equipment, training and facilities that designated roads policing officers need to do their job effectively.”

Tim also called for a serious debate over whether roads policing should sit under the Department for Transport rather than the Home Office, becoming a British Transport Police style roads policing unit which could enable it to be better funded.

“Jo Shiner, the National Police Chiefs’ Council roads policing lead has ambitious goals for improving road safety but for this to succeed we need to see roads policing prioritised by police leaders across the country, with the right structures, investment, training and resources,” he said.

Read the HMICFRS report on roads policing.