The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) Roads Policing Seminar is a great opportunity to share best practice and learn from other forces.
That’s the view of Sergeant Aaron Murphy, Cambridgeshire Police Federation’s roads policing unit rep.
Aaron, a roads policing sergeant for five years before becoming a Joint Protective Service staff officer in October, said: “Policing couldn’t really function without a roads policing unit and the seminar is an important part of that.
“It will be interesting to see and hear the views of colleagues across the country to see if our experiences are shared.
“It’s a chance to share best practice, to talk about what we can do to make our roads policing departments more effective, and to share that learning with each other.”
Aaron said one of the discussions he was most looking forward to was on the legislation introduced in 2022 which aimed to provide improved legal protection for police drivers.
Tim Rogers, secretary of West Midlands Police Federation and the national Federation’s pursuits and driver training lead, is set to address the virtual conference on 30 January and explain forces’ progress in meeting the requirements set out in the new legislation introduced through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.
Aaron said: “I think there is still a little bit of misconception about the new legislation and how it’s going to impact us.
“I think there’s a little bit of distrust from roads policing officers towards professional standards department and the IOPC and whether they will be given the protection that the legislation provides.
“It’s almost waiting for that test case to go through to see if this legislation is actually going to protect those officers it’s designed to.”
Aaron said he was surprised that none of the formal seminar discussions would explore welfare and the impact that roads policing can have on officers.
“What are we doing to look after those that have consistently been exposed to the most traumatic incidents?” he said.
“I don’t think we’re any further forwards on that.
“I’d be interested to see if anyone has any views on that during the conference.”
Another of the topic areas Aaron is looking forward to was on forensic collision investigation.
“I’m interested in whether they have any views on the ISO accreditation,” he said.
“We are behind the curve in terms of implementation.
“The standards say certain things need to change.
“The interaction between the forensic collision investigators and the roads policing cops, that has historically been there, I think has slowly been eroded.
“You’ve still got the personal relationships, of course, but I think the joined up nature of forensic collision investigation and investigating officers is lacking sometimes.
“I’d be interested to see if there’s a national steer as to what they’re doing to encourage those professional discussions, while not overstepping the lines put in place by the International Standards Organisation (ISO).”