Pt 1: In the wake of the home secretary’s approval of revised rules on conferring by police officers in writing up their post-event accounts, David Wolchover & Anthony Heaton-Armstrong focus on the issues at the heart of the debate
- Backlash to proposals to keep officers apart after shootings.
- Civilian witnesses: no conferring.
- Police witnesses: earlier practice.
In March 2014 the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) published a consultation paper proposing rules which, in relation to police operations resulting in death or serious injury, deprecated the traditional practice followed by officers of conferring with each other when writing up their accounts (Draft statutory guidance to the police service on achieving best evidence in death or serious injury matters). The proposed rules would pre-eminently have affected note-making after incidents in which specialist firearms officers had discharged their weapons. The ban on conferring was interpreted by the majority of officers posted to firearms duties as implying that they were not to be trusted to refrain from collusive invention.
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