Police pursuit and road traffic collision – Suffolk Constabulary, February 2022
On 3 February 2022, officers from Suffolk Constabulary pursued a vehicle. During the pursuit, the suspect vehicle collided with a parked vehicle. The collision resulted in an 11-year-old girl sustaining serious injuries, who was seated in the parked vehicle with her family. Officers administered first aid, and an ambulance was called before the girl was transported to hospital.
During our investigation, we obtained CCTV footage, body-worn video footage, telematics data from the police vehicle, relevant policies and guidance, and statements from the officers involved in the pursuit.
Throughout the investigation, there was no indication of that any police officers may have breached the standards of professional behaviour.
Our investigation concluded in June 2022.
We were satisfied that there was no indication that a person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary proceedings.
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. We identified organisational learning in respect of the recording and retaining of radio transmissions.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Suffolk Constabulary should ensure radio communications on the South Sentinel channel are recorded and retained in line with those on the Ipswich channel 1 (IP1) Airwaves.
This learning recommendation follows an IOPC investigation where officers from Suffolk Constabulary engaged in a pursuit with a vehicle. During the pursuit, the suspect vehicle collided with a parked vehicle. The collision resulted in serious injuries being caused to an 11-year-old girl, who was seated in the parked vehicle with her family.
The IOPC authorised the Driver Training Lead for Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies to conduct a debrief with the officers in the police pursuit vehicle. The role of the debrief was to establish best practice, to identify learning outcomes, and to ensure the force’s response to similar incidents in the future was improved where possible. This noted that “It appears that the Sentinel team use two dedicated talk groups, one for the early turn and one for the late turn. The early transmissions are recorded, but the late turn channel isn’t. This should be reviewed, as this would have provided additional communications detail on this occasion and could have provided further evidence of the officers’ actions.”
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
This recommendation has been accepted by Suffolk Constabulary.
Suffolk CCR have already reviewed their list of recorded channels. The review aimed to ensure recorded channels reflect current Airwave channel usage.
As a result of the review, a proposal has been submitted to the ICT department to make these changes. This includes the recording of ANPR1 & ANPR2 which are used by the Sentinel team.
These changes are being monitored by the CCR Systems Manager and are expected to be completed in the near future.