South Yorkshire Police Federation back bail reforms

BAIL reforms will be reviewed by the next Home Secretary to ensure suspects are dealt with in a timely way – in a move backed by South Yorkshire Police Federation.

The Home Office has committed to re-look at reforms made in 2017 that limited the length of pre-charge police bail to a maximum of 28 days and introduced the Release Under Investigation (RUI) arrangements.

Cross-party backing at Whitehall has been received for the review to go ahead.

Federation Chairman Steve Kent said: “As a frontline police officer at the time I can speak for pretty much every officer, when the legislation came in it was like taking the engine out of the car.

“We were robbed of vital tools in terms of how we deal with suspects, this, that and the other. It was never going to work, and it still creaks. We have people released under investigation in terms of being on bail, which isn’t ideal.”

The next Home Office team after the election will look at options such as updating the rules to ensure pre-charge bail is being used where most appropriate.

It will also look at the conditions needed to protect victims and witnesses, such as in domestic abuse cases and whether RUI arrangements which have no conditions attached are appropriate in those circumstances.

Steve hopes that whatever happens officers will be given the tools they need to do investigative and policing work.

“I totally welcome that this is going to be reviewed and that it looks at least like people are listening to our concerns,” he said.

“Ultimately police officers need the powers and tools as investigators to be able to obviously carry out the enquiries we need to do and not cut corners because we’re under ridiculous timescales.”