Chaos will follow if police forces are allowed to rip up the rule book, says Professor Michael Zander QC
Cambridgeshire police force is currently piloting a new way of recording Stop and Encounter. The merits of the pilot are not the concern. The issue is that by running an unauthorised, do-it-yourself pilot the Cambridgeshire police force risks destroying the essence of the PACE system.
An e-mail from Jeff Hill, Detective Superintendent, Head of Volume Crime, in the Cambridgeshire force, attempted to justify the initiative:
“These Codes of Practice are not primary legislation but guidance associated with the Act. Whilst as a constabulary we will always seek to apply Codes of Practice where they exist, there is a need to move away from the guidance on this occasion to enable the trial of a process which may secure benefits to both public and police alike…We therefore want to explore if there is a better way of administering the process …”
This statement, he wrote to me, mirrors written legal advice received by the force.
