Federation Chairman says drivers deserve protection of the law

POLICE drivers deserve the protection of the law when they are responding to emergencies and pursuing criminals, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

The introduction of a law designed to better-protect officers from prosecution if someone is hurt during a pursuit has been delayed until March, after a Private Members Bill was blocked in Parliament.

The Emergency Response Drivers (Protections) Bill seeks greater exemptions from civil liability or criminal prosecution for blue light workers, under the #ProtectTheProtectors campaign.

Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman, said: “We’ve seen the consequences in London where risk averse attitudes by the policing authorities have led to criminals on mopeds basically acting with impunity. There has to be a shift in social attitudes and also a shift in the litigation culture. A law change would definitely give officers the confidence in guidelines of what officers can and can’t do.

“Officers need to be aware that if they’re aware of the limitations to the protections in the law while they’re carrying out response and pursuits, it will just give them that little bit of extra caution that they need to apply. It’s another level of self-reflection.”

He said officers in South Yorkshire are already well-aware of the limitations on them, but that they should be able to do their job without having to worry excessively about ramifications that could see them losing their liberty and livelihood.

There are over a million response drives every year in England and Wales. Sgt Tim Rogers, who is leading on the issue for the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “The Federation has seen numerous examples of our members falling foul of the law for following their training and police tactics – in effect punished for doing their job.

“What does it say about our society when police officers can even be held liable for the reckless behaviour of criminals? Juries are often told by a Coroner that a police driver can be considered to have caused a fleeing subject’s death. This is despite the police driver giving an instruction to stop and the subject doing precisely the opposite.”