Federation: "Any police conduct reforms must not come at the expense of due process for officers"

31 August 2023

Government reforms which aim to "make it easier for Police Forces to sack Police Officers", must not come at the expense of officers being part of a fair and just process, The Civil Nuclear Police Federation has said.

Under the new rules being drawn up, Chief officers will be put back in charge of disciplinary panels, replacing independent legally qualified chairs (LQCs). The reforms will also mean that officers who fail to keep their vetting status up to date will be automatically axed from their posts.

Gary Thwaite, Chief Executive of The Civil Nuclear Police Federation, said: "These is no place in policing for corrupt people. We do not want them in the job. Police officers that breach the standards of professional behaviour in a manner that is so serious as to justify a dismissal, should rightly be held to account.

"But everybody needs to have a fair and just process. Police officers must have confidence that they have the right to fair and transparent disciplinary processes to ensure individual bias does not govern or influence decisions which have serious consequences on an individual's career and wellbeing.

"We cannot have the situation where an officer is already guilty in the eyes of the chief officer before any evidence is heard, and they already know what outcome they want to see."

Legally qualified chairs were introduced under changes to the Police (Conduct) Regulations made in 2015, to replace senior police officers as the chairs of misconduct panels to make the process more transparent, independent and fairer. Legally Qualified Chairs are individuals who remain independent of the police in order to provide fair and impartial oversight of these hearings.

Gary added: "The narrative in the media - and from some police leaders and politicians - over recent weeks and months that police officers should be guilty until proven innocent is not acceptable. And it is not fair.

"Any reform of the police must not come at the expense of due process for officers pending or subject to conduct procedures."