Conservative response to IOPC South Wales Police misconduct hearing

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:

“Honesty and integrity are the bedrock of policing, and that must be taken extremely seriously.

“But is also vital that this decision does not send the wrong signal. Officers need to have the confidence to pursue suspects where necessary.

“I am deeply concerned that investigating the officer for misconduct in relation to the pursuit itself - which did not occur near the site of the tragic deaths - risks officers across the country simply not pursuing criminals.  This will lead to criminals escaping justice and the public being less safe. 

“We saw this in London a few years ago when the Met held back from pursuing criminals on mopeds on safety grounds. Criminals exploited that, fuelling a huge surge in violent and acquisitive moped-enabled crime. We cannot afford to repeat those mistakes. The IOPC need to think very carefully about the consequences of their decisions and recalibrate their approach to make sure the police have the confidence to do what is needed to catch criminals and protect the public.”