Collision following pursuit - Kent Police, March 2018

On 22 March 2018 Kent Police officers engaged in the pursuit of a stolen BMW. Two additional marked police vehicles joined the pursuit in order to assist their colleagues. The pursuit travelled through Chatham, Kent, with the lead vehicle providing commentary to the Inspector within the force control room (FCR). Tthe lead vehicle lost contact with the FCR and halted the pursuit. Shortly after this, the stolen BMW collided with another vehicle on Woodlands Road, Gillingham. The driver of the other vehicle sustained a broken wrist, and was taken to hospital at the scene.

During the investigation, our investigators obtained and reviewed relevant CCTV, statements from members of the public and in-car data from the police vehicles. All the officers involved in the pursuit provided us with statements. We carefully reviewed the actions of officers against the Kent Police pursuit policy.

Based on the evidence available no officers were believed to have acted in a manner which constituted a breach of the standards of professional behaviour. Neither did we consider that the performance of any officers had been unsatisfactory.

After reviewing our report Kent Police agreed with our findings.