Liability of Police for Not Catching a Killer
| Author | A.N. Khan |
| Published date | 01 October 1987 |
| Date | 01 October 1987 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8706000402 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PROFESSOR A.N. KHAN
Athabasca University,Alberta, Canada
LIABILITY OF POLICE FOR NOT
CATCHING A KILLER
Since the decision in Donoghue v. Stevensoni, the law of negligence
has been in a state of constant development, expansion and
refmement. The following classic definition provided by Lord Atkin
in that case has been used to elaborate and widen circumstances and
situations in which the defendant owes a duty of care to the plaintiff:
You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which
you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your
neighbour. Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems
to be - persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act
that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so
affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions
which are called in question.
A novel and new question recently arose in our courts of law
concerning the duty of care owed by the police to the general public,
particularly to a victim of crime or his/her relations. The question is
this: if a woman is attacked and killed at night in an area where the
"Yorkshire Ripper" was operating and creating a havoc, the police
not being able to apprehend the alleged killer because of the
conduct of the investigations, can the mother of the victim succeed in
a civil claim for damages for the negligence of the police chief
constable (or his subordinates), who is under a legal duty to
apprehend offenders, prevent crime and protect life and property
within his police area?
InHill v. ChiefConstable
of
West Yorkshire: the mother of the last
victim of Peter Sutcliffe sued for the death of her daughter claiming,
inter alia, that it had been reasonably foreseeable that if Sutcliffe was
not apprehended he would commit further similar offences; it was
the duty of the chief officer of police, and of police officers under his
command, to exercise all reasonable skill and care to apprehend
him; and in the breach of that duty the West Yorkshire police failed
to use sufficient skill and care to catch him prior to the murder of
the plaintiffs daughter.
It
should be mentioned here that there has
not been any reported claim in English law, and, it appears, in other
English-speaking jurisdictions as well, of such a nature before.
However, it should also be stated that in recent years the courts have
not shirked their responsibility and have extended liability in
negligence in new and novel cases.t
It
was therefore interesting to
275 October 1987
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