“It’s absolutely vital that police have the ability and confidence to be able to pursue criminals”
A NEW bill offering protection for police drivers could still become law once the general election has finished.
South Yorkshire Police Federation is backing the proposed new legislation.
Currently, police drivers are subjected to the same legal tests as members of the public, meaning their training and experience is not recognised as mitigation in law.
It puts them at risk of being prosecuted for doing their jobs.
Federation Chairman Steve Kent said it was vital for public protection for officers to have the confidence to pursue criminals without the fear of litigation.
“Officers have got it in the back of their minds that they’re going to face unnecessary scrutiny if there’s an accident or if somebody’s hurt while they’re doing their jobs,” he said.
“It’s absolutely vital that police have the ability and indeed have the confidence to be able to pursue criminals, because otherwise all criminals need to do, if they know that the police aren’t going to chase them through fear of litigation, is they just need to get in a car and then basically that means they can do what they want and act with complete and utter impunity.
“The deterrent needs to be there, and officers need to be supported and providing that deterrent. At the end of the day, police drivers are the most highly qualified drivers that you’ll get in a civilian world, so we need to give that some respect and obviously some credence in knowing that their driving needs to be assessed to a different level to Mr and Mrs Jo Public.”
A change in the legislation was mentioned in the Queen’s speech before parliament was dissolved for the election, and Steve hopes whoever is in power on 13th December will carry the legislation through.
“Police drivers need supporting to do their job and it’s quite clear from the public and from what we want the focus needs to be on the criminals and getting them the punishments they deserve rather than the unnecessary and disproportionate scrutiny that officers get whilst they’re just doing their jobs trying to catch and apprehend these criminals,“ he said.