Civil actions against the police

• The scope of claims which may be brought against police has widened.
• The Supreme Court has clarified the duty of care owed by police for positive acts in operational situations.

Time was when it was considered by practitioners that, for reasons of public policy, save in exceptional circumstances, the police owed no duty of care to victims, witnesses or others in relation to operational policing, so that claims could not be brought for damages for ‘operational negligence’ (see, eg Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1989] AC 53, (a claim brought by the mother of a victim of the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ who would not have been murdered, had he been apprehended sooner) and Brooks v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2005] 1 WLR 1495, (a claim brought by Duwayne Brooks, the teenager with Stephen Lawrence when he was murdered 25 years ago)).