Recommendation - Metropolitan Police Service, May 2018
At approximately 3am on 24 March 2017, police officers were informed of an alleged burglary taking place in south London. The alleged suspects made off on mopeds. Officers lost sight of the mopeds until an unmarked police car located one of them. The unmarked police car followed the moped for a short period of time to a local park, where the police car collided with it. Both rider and passenger fell off the moped. The driver of the moped sustained a fractured leg during the incident and was taken to hospital.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The Police and Driver - Vehicles and Equipment Standard operating procedure (SOP) states where vehicles are fitted with in-car recording equipment, the driver of the police vehicle “must ensure this equipment is working correctly and all cameras are visible through the in car display.” At present police drivers receive no mandatory training advising them this is their responsibility nor instructing them on how to complete such checks; the police driver training course does not incorporate this. If the MPS is of the view the responsibility for checking the in-car cameras should remain with the driver of the vehicle, officers should be made aware of this as well as trained how and when to do so. It may be of benefit for the police driver training course to be extended to include a practical demonstration of how to check the Cleartone equipment is fully operational. An element of practical training in this regard will ensure officers are familiar with the system and are able to recognise when it is unplugged or faulty. In addition this would reinforce the fact they are responsible for conducting the checks and have been provided with the practical knowledge in order to do so.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
The subject matter experts have advised that Cleartone training will not be rolled out as part of the driving training for all MPS drivers for [the following] reasons. [Training in the use of the equipment is provided by the system lead at each garage and this is considered the most appropriate means of delivering the training as not all police vehicles are fitted with the Cleartone system. It would therefore not be relevant to include this training within all driving courses provided by the MPS].
However, they acknowledge the recommendation to reword the Police Driver & Vehicle Policy – Vehicle and Equipment Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to remove the burden of responsibility from untrained drivers. The policy is currently under review and this amendment will be included subject to consultation with stakeholders. In the interim, instructions have been sent to all Safer Driver Managers across the MPS signposting drivers to the E-Learning package on ANPR and reminding them of how to recognise when Cleartone is not working and who to report this to.