Recommendation - Cambridgeshire Constabulary, May 2024
We identified organisational learning following a review into an investigation where police officers were unable to arrange transport for a disabled person involved in a road traffic accident. The person was reliant on a specially adapted motorised wheelchair.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Cambridgeshire Constabulary liaises with the local authority to request access to any resource list they may have regarding organisations that can provide transport for individuals who use a wheelchair of any size. The force should ensure that they have contacts on hand for all times of day and days of the week, and that it is regularly reviewed and updated.
This follows an IOPC review where, following a road traffic accident, officers were unable to arrange onward transport for a disabled individual who was reliant on use of a specially adapted motorised wheelchair.
Although there is no obligation on officers to provide transport for any individual following a road traffic accident, officers would normally call for a taxi to facilitate transport at the individual’s own expense. Such a facility was not available to the individual in this case due to the need to transport them in a specialised wheelchair which required more space and support than a typical vehicle can provide.
The acquisition of a list or an agreement with the local authority, who can supply signposting to organisations who have wheelchair accessible vehicles would be a reasonable solution to provide wheelchair users with an equitable level of service.
Accepted
This recommendation was raised through Cambs Organisational Learning meeting and the final update was received on 15 July 2024.
The Disability Support Network have recognised this is valuable learning. They agree that the force should create a resource or signposting, so that police employees can easily source assistance for someone in this circumstance.
The above area is now being progressed, with a view to implementing soon.
There is also potential for the individuals involved to take a course provided by Equality Diversity Inclusivity leads (EDI), which although aimed at supervisors, would still be valuable. It is called ‘SLW Mandatory Disability Awareness’.
The above additional area is now being reviewed by local management.