Christie, N;
(2020)
Managing the safety of police pursuits: a mixed method case study of the Metropolitan Police Service, London.
Safety Science
, 129
, Article 104848. 10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104848.
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Abstract
Pursuits are one of the most risky activities the police undertake and research suggests that it is not always a proportionate response. To strengthen the evidence base more information is needed to understand circumstances which trigger a pursuit, how safety is managed and the proportion that involve injury. Analysis of Metropolitan Police Service pursuit data (2016–18) was carried out and 24 interviews were conducted among police drivers and control room staff to explore factors which generate pursuits and influence their safety. The proportion of pursuits that resulted in an injury was 3.7%. Only 1% of pursuits involved an injury to a member of the public not involved in the pursuit. Interview data suggested that pursuit safety could be improved by drivers giving clearer justification of why they decided to pursue in the first place, more training of operators to perform risk commentaries, greater use of pre-emptive strategies and by continuing the checks and balances provided by control room staff. Moreover, fear of personal repercussions, concerns of facing criminal investigation in the event of a crash and public scrutiny made all staff involved in the management of pursuits risk averse. Recommendations for improving safety include refresher driver training in line with other operations which can involve lethal force such as firearms and improving risk commentary training for operators. Technologies that track or immobilise a vehicle and curtail a pursuit need to be more widely available and in the future drones could be used as an alternative to helicopter deployment.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Managing the safety of police pursuits: a mixed method case study of the Metropolitan Police Service, London |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104848 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2020.104848 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | Police pursuits, Safety, Risk management |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Civil, Environ and Geomatic Eng |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10098929 |
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