NEWS


LORDS URGED TO ACT TO PROTECT


POLICE DRIVERS


An amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill designed to ensure it does not leave police drivers at greater risk of prosecution will be considered by the House of Lords later this year. Tim Rogers, national Federation lead


for police pursuits and driver training, believes without the amendment police drivers will actually be put at further jeopardy by a change to the law aimed at offering them better legal protection. “We are grateful for the support


we have had to date,” says Tim, who is deputy secretary of West Midlands Police Federation, “Our campaign for legislative change has been running for more than eight years and we are on the brink of success in terms of ensuring it is truly fit for purpose but the wording of the bill has to be amended and we are hopeful that, with


support from the Lords, this will be agreed. “The current wording sets out that


police drivers must follow their training at all times but this could mean more officers are prosecuted since, if they act instinctively rather than to the letter of their training, they could be found to have breached policy and procedures which could be deemed to be falling below the standard of the careful and competent police driver. “The Government, the Home Office,


the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the Independent Office for Police Conduct have listened to what we have been saying but there is a real risk this new legislation could inadvertently further criminalise officers. We have a number of Lords who are supportive of our aims.” The Federation wants a reasonableness


defence clause added to the bill to give officers flexibility to respond legally to the matters they encounter on duty. “We need to ensure that in tackling the obvious issues caused by judging police officers’ driving by the standards of your careful and competent driver, we don’t create a greater risk to police drivers who, quite naturally, should be able to react instinctively to what they are faced with,” said Tim. An amendment tabled by Philip


Davies, Conservative MP for Shipley, was to be debated in the House of Commons on 5 July but there was insufficient time available and the bill continued its passage through Parliament moving to the Lords. The bill will introduce a new legal test


so officers’ driving is measured against that of a ‘careful and competent police driver’.


Schoolboy is a ‘fine ambassador for policing’


Police officers seem to be getting younger these days. Meet ‘Chief Inspector Jay’, the schoolboy star of the popular Twitter account @ShortArmOfLaw. Eight-year-old Jay has been a huge fan of the police since he was five. His dad is a Leicestershire PC and his mum used to work in the prison service. He says his favourite thing about policing is “literally everything” but especially “how police officers do so much to help people all of the time, and all the different ways they do that”. Jay is a keen fundraiser and cycled


around Rutland Water in July to raise money for the Care of Police Survivors charity. He says: “Getting messages from police officers telling me that I’ve made


them smile always makes me very happy.” Jay’s Twitter account was started in 2018 but it really began to find fame during the pandemic as he put out thank you messages to police officers. His mum Hayley, who runs his social


media account, said: “It’s a huge help to see the smiles that people get from Jay. I don’t think we’d have got through lockdown without it. I just want to say thank you to everyone for accepting Jay into the policing family and being so kind to him.” National Federation Chair John Apter


recently got in touch with the family to congratulate Jay on being a “fine ambassador for policing” and sent him a gift – his Hampshire custodian helmet. John explained: “When I was about


six, I was mad keen to join the police and a local officer gave me his hat. I’ve never forgotten how it made me feel. If I can do the same for Jay as was done for me all those years ago then that makes me happy.”


Chief Inspector Jay


07 I POLICE I AUGUST 2021


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