Police chiefs demand stiffer sentences for serious road crimes

Sentences for serious motoring offences should be stiffened or police forces will risk losing the "vital support" of the public, an association of top policemen has claimed.

The Police Superintendents Association said that an urgent review should be held into penalties handed down by the courts for traffic offences committed by the "most dangerous and prolific offenders".

The head of Cheshire police, Chief Superintendent Derek Barnett, who is on the Association’s National Executive Committee, said: "There are also those who commit motoring offences not in the cause of criminality, but by the way they choose to drive, either deliberately or through carelessness. The consequences of their actions are no less serious and life threatening to the thousands of people seriously injured and killed each year on our roads.

"The police service has a duty to preserve life and should take all necessary measures within the powers granted to them by law and which are clearly proportionate to the risk of life and serious injury."

However, Ch Supt Barnett acknowledged that a distinction must be drawn between those who place the public at risk with clear intent, and those whose conduct "is less wilful".

The Association also gave its backing to the use of technology, such as Automated Number Plate Recognition and speed detection cameras, in bringing to justice those who put others’ lives in danger.

But he added: "The use of technology should not be the sole means employed by the service and police officers properly trained and equipped should be deployed in a visible and effective manner to apprehend criminals and to prosecute those who drive dangerously and commit serious traffic offences."

(gmcg)