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This page contains press release 48/03, in which the MPA makes a statement on the Health and Safety trial.
Warning: This is archived material and may be out of date. The Metropolitan Police Authority has been replaced by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC).
See the MOPC website for further information.
Health and Safety trial: MPA statement
48/03
27 June 2003
The Metropolitan Police Authority wishes to express its sympathy for the family of PC Kulwant Sidhu who died so tragically, and to PC Mark Berwick for the injuries he sustained. Their selfless acts of bravery remain undiminished by these proceedings.
The Authority takes extremely seriously the health and safety of Met officers and civilian staff and will continue to work with the Metropolitan Police Service to ensure the highest standards of health and safety procedures and training are maintained.
However, we simply cannot understand why the Health and Safety Executive judged it to be in the public interest to bring this prosecution. The Met had already complied readily with improvement notices.
The HSE prosecution led to the Commissioner attending court for several weeks, diverting him from his public duties, which as the most senior police officer in the capital, are particularly sensitive and demanding in the current international climate. It has also incurred substantial costs, estimated at £3 million, from public funds - money which could have been put to far better use policing London.
We are also at a loss to understand why the HSE, which says it wants to ensure police forces are conscientious and diligent about the health and safety of its officers, is opposing the move to make forces legally and publicly accountable to police authorities. This is the only way to deliver continued compliance in an open and honest way.
The outcome of this lengthy legal process, which clears the Commissioners on all charges, must raise very serious questions over how the HSE pursues police health and safety issues.
We need a balanced debate about the restrictions health and safety requirements place on police officers fulfilling their duty to preserve life and to take risks for the greater public good. A courtroom is not the best place for this debate.
Toby Harris, Chair of the MPA, will be tabling questions in the House of Lords this afternoon to find out the extent of Ministerial involvement in the HSE decision to bring the case to trial.
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