POOR legislation that puts officers at risk of being criminalised following pursuits needs to be amended so officers can safely respond to emergency calls.<\/p>\n
Steve Kent, South Yorkshire Police Federation has warned, was speaking about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill \u2013 currently going through Parliament, which has been criticised for not going far enough in driver protections.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn officer will be licensed to drive in accordance to what they have been trained to do but nothing more. Performing a manoeuvre which is not trained or in policy is likely to fall into the new definition of dangerous and careless driving under a new test against the careful and competent police driver\u201d, Tim Rogers, of the Police Federation of England and Wales has explained.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cGoing beyond the terms of that licence could give rise to criminal liability. I have grave concerns around the practicality of this approach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Kent said: \u201cThis is one of the most critical aspects of that Bill as far as I\u2019m concerned. While it is going in the right direction, it has left a gaping hole where there\u2019s still that possibility of officers being charged. This is frankly astonishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t be in a position where our police drivers don\u2019t respond appropriately to emergency calls. It\u2019s our job to do that and I\u2019m sure the public would lose support for us if we didn\u2019t blue light it to reports of people who end up being attacked on the street, for example. So officers need to be fully protected.<\/p>\n
\u201cI I do think we need to remind our officers to be very careful and just obviously drive according to the risk that\u2019s needed. Obviously body worn video and car sets help with that going forward, but officers do need to be away that this loophole hasn\u2019t been closed and they need to have it, sadly, in the back of their minds when they\u2019re doing what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve has promised to take this issue forward with the Chief Constable, the PCC and local MPs.<\/p>\n