Pedestrian injured in collision - Greater Manchester Police, March 2017
On 31 March 2017, a member of the public reported to two Greater Manchester Police (GMP) police community support officers (PCSOs) that a driver was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol. The suspected drunk driver was said to be in a nearby supermarket.
The PCSOs identified the suspect vehicle in the supermarket car park and, when it was leaving the car park, one of the PCSOs signalled to the driver to stop. The driver did not stop and the PCSOs followed the suspect vehicle, which is said to have driven through red traffic lights and subsequently crashed into a pedestrian. The pedestrian suffered serious injuries as a result of the collision.
We conducted an independent investigation looking into the actions of the PCSO who was driving the police vehicle. This involved viewing CCTV footage, interviewing witnesses and subjects and analysing the evidence against policy, procedure and legislation.
Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that the PCSO who was driving the police vehicle may have a case to answer for misconduct for not driving in accordance with GMP guidance, policy and training, and for subsequently providing information in their roadside account to the Serious Collision Investigation Unit that conflicted with the CCTV evidence. We completed our investigation in November 2018.
After reviewing our report, GMP agreed with our views and arranged for the PCSO to attend a misconduct meeting.
At the meeting, held in summer 2019, misconduct was found not proven by the panel.
Our investigation also highlighted a number of areas for improvement for GMP. We recommended that the force consider developing a mechanism by which it is easy for them to see what vehicles those under their supervision are authorised to use; that all supervisors check the driving authority for those under their supervision to ensure they are using only the vehicles they have been authorised to use; and that GMP should consider developing a procedure by which keys to vehicles are allocated to those with a Basic Driving Authority.
The force agreed and proposed that their driver standards training department review our investigation report to understand the learning from this incident. The training department will also identify a method of ensuring that safeguards are in place so that all staff and supervision understand what class or type of vehicle they are authorised to drive.