Report on police pursuits offers safety recommendations
A new report into the safety of police pursuits in London has been published, setting out a series of recommendations to reduce the associated risks.
The report, which explores factors that generate pursuits and influence their safety, was authored by professor Nicola Christie, from the University College London (UCL) Centre for Transport Studies – with funding from the Road Safety Trust.
The study combined analysis of Metropolitan Police Service pursuit data (2016–18) and evidence from 24 interviews with police drivers and control room staff.
The analysis revealed the proportion of pursuits that resulted in an injury was 3.7% – while 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, 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.
