Careless Coppers

New figures shown to The Steel Bugle by using the Freedom of Information act have revealed that over 70% of traffic incidents involving South Yorkshire Police vehicles were in fact caused by the police officers driving.

The information comes after an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission opened looked into the death of a man who was killed in March of this year in the Denaby Main area of Sheffield by a police vehicle which was responding to a call.

Out of a total of 94 incidents which occurred during the course of 2008 eighteen are still yet to be resolved and could be added to the number caused by the police. The accidents involving SYP vehicles resulted in 51 casualties including 3 pedestrians, 2 of which were drunk at the time. Two of the incidents resulted in homes being damaged by SYP vehicles in accidents which saw police cars going out of control and crashing through resident’s gardens and into their homes.

In 2008 the vehicle fleet management of South Yorkshire police began a three year strategy to optimise the best performance possible for the people of south Yorkshire. Nigel Hiller, Director of finance and administration for the SYP released a report in 2008 which he said the new strategy would “Transform vehicle fleet management to provide outstanding service in a way that actively supports the policing of South Yorkshire”

Michal Lodej, The Steel Bugle