Police actions prior to road traffic collision - Northamptonshire Police, June 2022

In June 2022, a member of the public reported to Northamptonshire an incident where a drunk driver collided with a group of young people causing life changing injuries to one of them. 

We conducted an independent investigation and specifically looked at the decision making by an officer. We also considered the actions of another officer regarding the progression of an investigation into the same driver. 

During the investigation, we obtained accounts from both officers, reviewed incident logs and reviewed policies regarding decision making and progression of investigations. 

Our investigation concluded in March 2023 but we waited for external proceedings to conclude before publishing our findings. 

We concluded that one officer would benefit from undergoing the reflective review practice process, while the other had a case to answer for misconduct and should attend a misconduct meeting.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. 

In this case, the investigation has not identified any organisational learning.