Dangerous Driving and Police – New CPS Guidance

 

Earlier this year, PC James Holden who was charged with Dangerous Driving and sent to Crown Court in respect of a pursuit he had in February 2011 with a prolific offender, Louis Bibby, 19. Bibby was driving a stolen van, was on bail at the time, had 145 previous convictions. Holden called off the pursuit when Bibby drove through the barriers at a level crossing, but was still prosecuted. Thankfully common sense prevailed and PC Holden was found Not Guilty.

Since this case there has been a nagging doubt in the minds of many Emergency Services drivers, especially Police, about the potential implications of simply doing their job. In a world where a good officer can find themselves in Crown Court for injuring no one and damaging nothing, serious questions needed asking of the legislators.

Following significant criticism in the media and directly from the Police Federation a review of current guidelines has come to pass to address some of the glaring issues facing blue light drivers. Launching the public consultation phase of the review the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, explained:

“The issues that arise for prosecutors when deciding to charge someone with a very serious driving offence – particularly where there has been a fatality – are inevitably difficult and sensitive.”

The draft guidance published this week advises prosecutors to use discretion in deciding whether or not a prosecution is required in the public interest if an offence is committed while responding to an emergency call, stating:

“It is very unlikely to be appropriate to proceed with a prosecution on public interest grounds if a police officer, ambulance driver or firefighter commits a driving offence while responding to an emergency call unless the driving is dangerous or indicates a high degree of culpability,”

This guidance should bring a little comfort to those who still choose to chase the bad guys. Since the Holden case it has been quite common, in my experience, for decisions about whether or not to pursue to be based on career preservation rather than the nature of the offence or the necessity to prosecute or prevent further offending by taking the offender into custody. It is reassuring to hear some common sense advice from those who make the charging decisions.

The DPP said:

“Those who work in the emergency services need to know that they can respond to an emergency call without fear of prosecution for doing their job. This is not a licence for emergency workers to act with immunity from prosecution, but it is important to appreciate that police officers, ambulance drivers and firefighters sometimes need to drive in a manner which would be not be considered acceptable by other drivers.”

The guidance also goes so far as to address so-called ‘nearest and dearest’ cases where a close relative or other loved one dies as a result of a drivers actions whilst being pursued. It suggests that a Police officer should not necessarily be held responsible for dangers created by the person who is being pursued and the consequences of the offending drivers actions.

On the subject of public interest regarding prosecution of a Police or other Emergency Service driver the report states:

“[The decision to prosecute] must of course, be balanced against the need to ensure the safety of other road users – and if there is evidence to suggest that an individual presents a continuing danger to other road users then the proper course may well be to prosecute on public interest grounds once there is sufficient evidence to do so.”

Submissions to the CPS in response to this guidance are due by 8th November 2012.

 

The high price of cutting costs

We have been forced to cut many corners in the hunt for those illusive targets set by Winsor and his cohorts in Government. We have streamlined every aspect of our operation to try and meet the 20% savings that will, apparently, save us from disaster. Front counters have closed, cell blocks have closed, entire Police stations have closed and teams are running with less resilience than ever before. We have even centralised other major parts of the business (for that is what it has become) such as the control room and contact centre, IT and other phone based departments have also been combined into locations designed for half the occupancy. Servicing and Fleet Maintenance have also had their capacity reduced with workshop facilities from the smaller locations being thrown together in a big, cheap building that is nowhere near the response and traffic hub – the only thing this has achieved is a moderate top line cost saving.

Today I spoke with one of the motorway officers who had, by chance, just gone through the process of getting a minor fault fixed with his car. All that was wrong was that the little tiny indicator bulb in his wing mirror had blown. This is a 29p part and required little technical expertise to change. In the good old days, which now refer to any date more than six years ago in most people’s opinion, the problem would have been sorted in minutes in one of the following ways:

Option 1:

The officer would have gone to the cupboard where all the useful stuff was kept and got a bulb from the adequate supply therein, replaced the busted part and carried on with his day five minutes behind schedule.

This option went entirely to plan until he got to the cupboard and found that there was nothing there except some empty bulb boxes and a couple of obsolete headlights from the 90′s. Due to the financial implications of holding stock in a number of places that isn’t immediately used all spares are now held by the SFM staff in a lockable cabinet in their workshop. It might save a few quid in the short-term, but if you blow a headlight after 4.30pm you are screwed!

Option 2:

The backup would have been to have got a tenner from petty cash and gone to Halfords, bought a bulb, replace the part and carried on with his day fifteen minutes behind schedule.

Petty cash has been a thing of the past since the front counter and back office at his station closed and the associated staff and admin team moved to other locations. Petty cash purchases are a thing of the past and all other purchases now have to be made using approved suppliers, or processed through the central procurement team being delivered within a week or so. This does not relate to vehicle spares so Option 2 is a non-starter.

Option 3:

Pop into the local workshop and get them to fit a new bulb before carrying on with his day, thirty minutes behind schedule.

This option was the officer had been left with in preference to not using the car at all. Unfortunately this is no longer as simple as it used to be. He had to phone ahead and confirm that they had the time to see him and submit a Fleet Maintenance Request by email to confirm the fault. Then, once acknowledged, he had to drive for 35 minutes to the central Fleet Maintenance building, waiting 15 minutes for a technician to finish his previous job before fitting a new bulb, then spending a further 10 minutes completing a Fault Rectification form and signing the vehicle off as fit for use. Finally the driver then returned to his station, completing the return 35 minute journey and finally getting out on patrol a full three hours behind schedule.

‘a huge chasm’

The cost of this exercise cannot be easily measured. The officer time would have amounted to about £50 in salary terms and the cost of the 29p bulb also remained. We have to add to that the thirty minutes of the mechanics time, the fuel cost of a 52 mile round trip and the fact that his vehicle was off the road for three hours and was therefore unable to assist with the crash on the motorway which happened while he was on the other side of the division. Less trained divisional officers ended up helping with the crash and were therefore exposed to a higher degree of risk than their more experienced and better equipped colleagues in the big cars.

I would estimate that the cost of that 29p bulb was probably inflated to over £100 in total due to streamlining and cost cutting. A clear demonstration that there is sometimes a huge chasm between the headline saving and the bottom line cost. Some officers, including me, have resorted to sorting these types of issue at their own cost on more than one occasion. It’s just what we do to keep things running smoothly. 29p, after all, is not much in the grand scheme of things if it keeps the wheel from coming off, but at the end of the day it shouldn’t be down to us to fix the failings, regardless of how small the price.