Police Negligence in UK Law
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Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire
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There is no question that a police officer, like anyone else, may be liable in tort to a person who is injured as a direct result of his acts or omissions. So he may be liable in damages for assault, unlawful arrest, wrongful imprisonment and malicious prosecution, and also for negligence. Instances where liability for negligence has been established are Knightly v. Johns [1982] I W.L.R. 349 and Rigby v. Chief Constable of Northamptonshire [1985] 1 W.L.R. 1242.
The conclusion must be that although there existed reasonable foreseeability of likely harm to such as Miss Hill if Sutcliffe were not identified and apprehended, there is absent from the case any such ingredient or characteristic as led to the liability of the Home Office in the Dorset Yacht case. Nor is there present any additional characteristic such as might make up the deficiency.
In some instances the imposition of liability may lead to the exercise of a function being carried on in a detrimentally defensive frame of mind. A great deal of police time, trouble and expense might be expected to have to be put into the preparation of the defence to the action and the attendance of witnesses at the trial. The result would be a significant diversion of police manpower and attention from their most important function, that of the suppression of crime.
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Brooks v Metropolitan Police Commisioner
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Whilst focusing on investigating crime, and the arrest of suspects, police officers would in practice be required to ensure that in every contact with a potential witness or a potential victim time and resources were deployed to avoid the risk of causing harm or offence. Such legal duties would tend to inhibit a robust approach in assessing a person as a possible suspect, witness or victim.
It is unnecessary in this case to try to imagine cases of outrageous negligence by the police, unprotected by specific torts, which could fall beyond the reach of the Hill principle. It would be unwise to try to predict accurately what unusual cases could conceivably arise. I certainly do not say that they could not arise. But such exceptional cases on the margins of the Hill principle will have to be considered and determined if and when they occur.
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Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police
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Tofaris and Steel in their article, Police Liability in negligence for failure to prevent crime: Time to Re-think, (Legal Studies Research Paper Series 39/2014, July 2014) define what they describe as the "omissions principle" in the following way: A is not under a duty to take care to prevent harm occurring to B through a source of danger not created by A unless either (i) A has assumed a responsibility to protect B from that danger, (ii) A has a special level of control over that source of the danger, or (iii) A's status creates an obligation to protect B from that danger.
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Elguzouli-Daf v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis; McBrearty v Ministry of Defence
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While it is always tempting to yield to an argument based on the protection of civil liberties, I have come to the conclusion that the interests of the whole community are better served by not imposing a duty of care on the CPS. It would in some cases lead to a defensive approach by prosecutors to their multifarious duties. It would introduce a risk that prosecutors would act so as to protect themselves from claims of negligence.
- Consumer Rights Act 2015
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Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015
... ... ; to create an offence of the corrupt or other improper exercise of police powers and privileges; to make provision about offences committed by ... duty of care” means—(a) a duty owed under the law of negligence, or(b) a duty that would be owed under the law of negligence but for a ... ...
- Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
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General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862
... ... 128 Persons accidentally breaking Lamps to repair theDamage ... 128. If any Person shall, through Negligence or Accident, break any Lamp set up in any Street, public or private, or in any common Stair or Passage, or private Court, and shall not, upon Demand, ... ...
- The Human Rights Act 1999: Opening the Door to Negligence Actions against the Police?
- Negligence and the Duty of Care; the Demise of the Caparo Test; and Police Immunity Revisited: Robinson v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire
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Strict Liability for Police Nonfeasance? The Kinghan Report on the Riot (Damages) Act 1886
The Riot (Damages) Act 1886 imposes a no‐fault obligation on police forces to compensate owners of property damaged in rioting. Following the riots across England in 2011 an independent Home Office...... ... incentive for the police to perform their duty to keep the peace while averting the questioning of police decision-making that claims in negligence would inevitably require. The best alternative to negligence liability might not be ‘no liability’ (the general position now at common law), or ... ...
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Suing Detectives
In Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America and the United Kingdom you can sue a negligent doctor, but not a negligent detective. You can sue both doctors and detectives in Canada and S...... ... Why the difference? Would making detectives liable for negligent police investigations improve their decision making or, as many judges assert, ... from tackling crime? This article explains the civil law of negligence but criticises its judicial application in cases of alleged negligent ... ...
- Supreme Court Restates When Police Forces Are Liable In Negligence
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Mrs Robinson Fails To Seduce The Court Of Appeal
... ... Police officers had sought to detain a suspect in the street but the suspect put ... the police, arguing that they owed her a duty of care in negligence ... The Court of Appeal dismissed the claimant's arguments ... ...
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Criminal Investigation Launched Into Deaths At Brighton Hospital
...A police investigation into deaths arising as a result of ... alleged medical ... ...
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Support For Those Impacted By Allegations Of Medical Negligence At The Royal Sussex County Hospital
...There have been widespread reports that Sussex Police has launched an ... investigation into a number of deaths at Brighton's Royal ... Sussex County Hospital due to alleged clinical negligence ... Up ... ...
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Warrant of committal (general) (rule 81.30)
King's Bench forms for use in cases such as personal injury, negligence and breach of contract.... ... ’s High Court of Justice, his deputy or assistants, and all police constables and other peace officers whom it may concern ... ... ...
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Warrant of committal (of prisoner) (rule 81.30)
King's Bench forms for use in cases such as personal injury, negligence and breach of contract.... ... ’s High Court of Justice, his deputy or assistants, and all police constables and other peace officers whom it may concern ... ... ...
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Warrant of committal (contempt in face of court) (rules 81.16 and 81.30)
King's Bench forms for use in cases such as personal injury, negligence and breach of contract.... ... ’s High Court of Justice, his deputy or assistants, and all police constables and other peace officers whom it may concern ... ... ...
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Bench Warrant
King's Bench forms for use in cases such as personal injury, negligence and breach of contract.... ... ’s High Court of Justice, his deputy or assistants, and all police constables and other peace officers whom it may concern ... ... ...