Police punished for breaking speed limit
More than 100 police officers in the region have been prosecuted for speeding on duty in the past two years, figures revealed today.
Across the West Midlands, Staffordshire and West Mercia, officers broke speed limits more than 26,000 times in the past two years. In the majority of cases however, they were spared court action or fines because they were doing their duty, rushing to get to emergencies. But, in the past two years, dozens of officers have faced prosecution.
Those who have been punished should not have been driving so quickly in certain circumstances, or using blue lights.
In the West Midlands, the second largest force in the country, 57 officers faced prosecution in 2011 and 18 more have this calendar year so far.
Across West Mercia, there were 39 prosecutions in the past two financial years, while 18 of Staffordshire's officers faced action in the same time – taking the total across three forces to 132.
Supt Rick Burgess, from the West Midlands force's operations department, said: "It should be borne in mind that police officers are required to respond to incidents where there is a danger to life; this also extends to preventing and detecting offences but only when it is safe to do so.
Laws
"If police officers are caught speeding inappropriately they are subjected to exactly the same laws as everyone else." Punishments in the West Midlands saw speeding drivers either pay fines, attend speed awareness courses and referred to the force's professional standards department for internal action.
In West Mercia, bosses dealt with offenders with a fine and issuing three penalty points.
Spokeswoman Rachel Anstee explained the force policy was that any driver who exceeded the speed limit by 10 per cent in addition to an extra nine mph, such as travelling at 43 mph in a 30mph zone illegally, automatically received penalty points.
The Staffordshire force has meanwhile introduced "education initiatives".
