The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is deciding whether officers will face charges after suspects were injured when they were knocked off PTWs. The ‘tactical contact’ policy hit the headlines in 2017 when Scotland Yard said it would back the strategy in London following a surge in the use of mopeds in violent robberies and muggings. The policy was also backed by Prime Minister Theresa May.
After several high-profile instances of tactical contact – aka “ramming” – moped crime halved, but eight separate incidents involving 10 officers have been reported to the police watchdog. Five of them are still under investigation and officers could face charges such as actual bodily harm.
One case involves two officers who knocked a 14-year-old off a moped in Uxbridge, west London, in February 2018, causing him to break his leg. The other three are being investigated for ramming a man off a stolen motorbike in Ealing, west London, in March last year.
The IOPC will decide whether the officers should be referred to the Crown Prosecution Service to face criminal charges.
Police unveiled the tough new approach last year with dramatic footage of moped muggers being wiped out. Commissioner Cressida Dick said pursuit drivers were ‘supremely well trained’ and tactical contact had resulted in a ‘very small’ number of injuries. ‘My officers make life-and-death decisions every day of the week, they’re very accountable,’ she said. ‘They make the best possible decisions. We are in a risk business.’
But some officers fear they will not be protected from legal action when tackling moped gangs.
Stephanie Holland, whose boyfriend Danny Pearce, 31, was stabbed to death for his £7000 Rolex watch by a moped mugger in south-east London, criticised the decision to investigate the officers. She has told one tabloid newspaper: ‘If police officers are trying to prevent crime and they have evidence to see that someone is committing a crime, I don’t think they should be investigated.
‘If a criminal is doing something, I don’t think the officer should be prosecuted because they are doing their job and that’s a good thing. I don’t have any sympathy for them [the suspects]. ‘If someone is committing a crime that could harm someone else, then any sort of prevention is good and it doesn’t matter about the consequences.’