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Senior police officers suspended

Concerns were raised about a number of speeding exemptions
Two senior Surrey police officers have been suspended over alleged dishonest conduct relating to the avoidance of speeding fines.

Ch Supt Adrian Harper, East Surrey division's divisional commander, and West Surrey division's Supt Johnny Johncox were suspended on Friday.

The decision followed a force review into exemptions granted to police for speeding and red light offences.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating.

Surrey Police said the Professional Standards Department review had found the "vast majority" of exemptions were granted for "sound operational reasons", but had raised concerns about a limited number of cases.

A spokesman for Surrey Police said the IPCC had approved a file being sent to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision in relation to prosecution.

He added that Surrey Police had appointed temporary replacements for Mr Harper and Mr Johncox.

John Scheerhout

May 25, 2009

POLICE officers in Greater Manchester were caught speeding 91 times in one year whenthey were not on an emergency call .

Figures obtained by the M.E.N for 2008 reveal 34 officers were handed £60 fixed penalty notices and had three penalty points put on their licence.

The remaining 57 cops, thought to have been just over the limit, were allowed to attend speed awareness workshops instead of a fine and points.

The figures emerged after the M.E.N. asked for details of police, fire and ambulance service vehicles caught by speed cameras in Greater Manchester in the last two years using Freedom of Information laws.

Although the number of speeding police motorists not on 999 calls was revealed for 2008, information for 2007 and for ambulances and fire engines was 'not recorded'.

Greater Manchester Police has around 8,000 officers and 4,000 civilian staff covering 20 million miles a year.

During the past six-and-half-years 29 people have died in accidents involving police vehicles in Greater Manchester.

Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney said: "In the vast majority of cases where police vehicles activate speed cameras, they are responding to an emergency.

"Greater Manchester Police expects all officers to adhere to the speed limits of the road when not responding to an operational incident, and these figures show that when they are caught speeding they are dealt with appropriately like any other member of the community."

The figures also showed speed cameras flashed 47,228 police cars, ambulances and fire engines on emergency calls last year - 18,000 more than the year before.

They were all exempt from fines and points.

It means that police, fire and ambulance vehicles were flashed 129 times a day on average.

The 2008 figure represented a huge increase on the year before, when 29,156 vehicles were caught at an average of 80 a day.

Ambulance Service vehicles were flashed the most and officials blamed a rise in speed cameras, although there were only six more speed cameras added in 2008 making a total of 158.

Ambulances were caught 29,049 times in 2008 compared to 17,343 in 2007.

Greater Manchester Police vehicles were flashed on 15,898 occasions in 2008 and 10,780 times in 2007.

Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service fire engines were caught in speed traps on 2,281 occasions in 2008 which was more than double the figure from 2007, which was 1,033.

A statement from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) blamed an increase in the size of its fleet and number of speed cameras on the streets.

It said: "We are an extremely busy service, with over one million 999 calls region-wide last year, of these 283,199 resulted in a blue light response in Greater Manchester alone.

"There is a growing number of speed cameras on the road. Add to this an increase in the number of vehicles we have in operation and the increase in the frequency they are being used - it is a simple consequence that we have seen a rise in the number of notices issued.

"Because of the high number and frequency of calls, it is generally accepted that our vehicles are going to be photographed by a speed camera on a regular basis - the same vehicle could even be captured a number of times throughout its single journey or one incident could require a number of vehicles, all of which would be photographed.

"The images captured are sent to us and we investigate each one to ascertain whether or not it is on a genuine emergency - this is almost always the case.

"When vehicles are issued a ticket and we cannot find a legitimate reason as to why it was exceeding the speed limit, we pass the details of the driver to the police who then take appropriate action."

The M.E.N. made its request for information to the Greater Manchester Casualty Reduction Partnership (known as Drivesafe), which operates the cameras.

A spokeswoman for Drivesafe, a partnership of police, local authorities and other public bodies, said it had not recorded details of fire engines and ambulance vehicles flashed by speed cameras when they weren't answering emergencies.

The number of police vehicles not on 999 calls caught speeding in 2007 was, also, not recorded, she said.