Chief officers could be leaving police drivers ‘exposed’ by failing to meet their commitments in embedding new legislation, the Federation’s Roads Policing Seminar has heard.

Tim Rogers, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and the national Federation’s pursuits and driver training lead, was addressing a discussion on the effectiveness of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

Describing it as ‘a great bit of legislation’, Tim said it had the power ‘when correctly applied’ to give police drivers the appropriate protection which has bizarrely long been absent in law.

However, he said that some chief officers have not familiarised themselves with the legislation and their obligations in order for it to provide the wide ranging benefits to both officers and public.

“I’m bored of saying this but, put simply, it’s a case of comply or die,” he said.

Tim Rogers, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and the
national Federation’s pursuits and driver training lead.

Tim was leading a discussion during the online seminar titled New driving legislation - does it deliver better protection for officers?

He described how the Federation campaigned to ‘remedy the legislative flaw that saw police officers routinely charged for doing their job’.

“It was a perverse situation that saw officers being prosecuted for simply doing what they are trained and expected to do in keeping the elected government of the day’s public safe,” he said.

“I’m happy, and the Federation is happy with the new legislation, and we’re grateful to our partners in the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and those other supportive partners who helped us facilitate this change.

“But we are disappointed it does risk failing to achieve its true potential due to some errant application.

“Our achievement in securing this generational reform for police driver legislation is being squandered by a small proportion of beneficiaries.

“You’re probably asking who would do that? Out of all the users, it’s sadly the police service. The issue sadly is with the police service thus chief officers, who are the main offenders. We’re far from satisfied with some who seem unable to familiarise themselves with their legal obligations.

“Their failure to effectively plan for the introduction of the new legislation and the chronic underinvestment in roads policing - even though in February last year for the first time this critical area of policing was included as a strategic policing requirement.

“We accept this underinvestment starts with central government. Some of the problems we’re seeing is that the prescribed training that is set out in the act is not being consistently applied.”

Tim explained how he had 'worked really hard on the governance that sits behind the primary legislation', as he strongly added: "Forces must adhere to this. There's no wriggle room.

“Any deviation from the statutory instrument will leave your officers exposed, yet some chief officers seem unable to grasp this fact and it can’t be allowed to continue.

“Whether you’re a police driver, senior leader, a chief officer, you’ve got a duty to yourself, your staff, the public to get the best out of it - and it is a great bit of legislation. Correctly applied it should achieve its policy objectives.”

The debate heard from Jo Boxall-Hunt, subject matter expert from the College of Policing, who spoke about the licensing requirements under the new legislation.

Barrister Mark Aldred, from QEB Hollis Whiteman, who has worked closely with the Federation during its campaign for the new legislation, spoke about other protections provided for police drivers.

Mr Aldred said that ‘experts should think beyond driving policies’ when looking into the actions of a police driver.

Describing a situation where a driver might be forced to pursue a suspect who was fleeing on foot or bike, he said people may be ‘astounded to know there’s no tactic in the tactics directory, no policy, and there is no training to cover this entirely foreseeable situation’.

But he said that case law meant that an officer could be convicted of a criminal offence for failing to act, so doing nothing was not an option

He went on to describe how drivers could use the National Decision Model (NDM), alongside the Criminal Law Act and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE), to mount a pursuit.

“If you apply NDM there is sufficient there in policy, but experts are giving too little credence to it,” he said.

Other discussions during the seminar included forensic collision investigation, electric vehicles and a victim-led approach to roads policing.

The final session was a debate on whether the future of roads policing might see the introduction of a nationwide roads policing unit.

The discussion heard that there are five deaths a day on the UK’s roads, with the estimated cost of a fatal road traffic collision around £2m.

It was also told that, despite those figures and it being a national strategic priority, roads policing received fewer resources and investment than other areas of policing.

Brian Booth, the Federation’s roads policing lead, said: “As well as the financial costs, there are emotional costs and the impact on families when someone sadly dies on our roads.

“There’s the welfare of our members, our officers attending these scenes and the impact it has on them as individuals.”

Simon Hill, deputy general secretary of the Metropolitan Police Federation, added: “If we had a very achievable but modest reduction of five per cent that would save the UK economy approximately £200 million.

“A five per cent reduction is very modest, and I’d suggest with a dedicated roads policing force, suitably resourced, equipped and trained, it would be more than surpassed.”

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