Police Law Blog European Decisions Statutory Materials

The QOCS regime and ‘mixed’ police claims

The High Court has held in Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Brown [2018] EWHC 2046 (Admin) that qualified one-way costs shifting (‘QOCS’) protection does not apply automatically in proceedings where a claimant is advancing both a claim for damages for personal injury and a claim other than a claim for damages for personal injury […]

Police Conduct Regulations 2012. Home Office Guidance 2018

The Home Office has published: – Frequently asked questions on the barred and advisory lists; and – Amended Home Office guidance on police misconduct. The Home Office states that the changes include: – further guidance on the regulations for former officers including whether they apply to cases of misconduct taken under Conduct Regulations issued prior […]

Including acquitted allegations in an Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate

The Supreme Court in R (AR) v CC Greater Manchester Police [2018] UKSC 47 upheld the inclusion of information in an enhanced criminal record certificate (ECRC) that a person had been acquitted of rape. The judgment shows the importance of chief officers considering with great care the various factors in order to strike a fair […]

999 calls: When do assurances of help give rise to a duty of care?

The working assumption of most police lawyers is that a common law duty of care will not arise where call handlers tell 999 callers that the police will attend and assist. The judgment in Sherratt v Chief Constable of GMP [2018] EWHC 1746 (QB) demonstrates that a more careful analysis is required. In this case, some […]

No duty of care owed by employer to employees in the conduct of civil litigation

The Supreme Court has held in James-Bowen & Ors v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2018] UKSC 40 that the Commissioner owed no duty to protect the economic and reputational interests of officers whose alleged misconduct formed the subject of a civil claim, which the Commissioner had settled. The officers had been involved in […]