ACPO says it will support officers acting as ambulances

CHIEF constables have said they will support officers acting as ambulances should a casualty die while being transported to hospital by police.

Mark Smith, chairman of Essex Police Federation, has spoken to Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle and says the chief has told him he “will back officers who are acting in the best interests of the casualty”.

An ACPO spokesman has also said that it “understands officers’ concern” about the issue.

Essex Police Federation raised the issue last month after frontline officers complained they were regularly stepping in for ambulances that were delayed or simply not showing up.

“Police officers are stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he said. “We are never going to leave someone on the floor, on the street to die. We are going to do the best we possibly can but something is going to go very, very wrong.

“Officers must have the support of their chief officers if something goes wrong. We are only trained in basic life support. When an officer makes a decision to convey a person to a hospital or not – and a person sadly dies – that officer should have full support from chief officers.

“I am not confident we have that.”

However an ACPO spokesman told EssexFedFocus this month:  “We want to reassure officers that we will support any officer who can demonstrate that they have considered the circumstances and made appropriate decisions in the best interest of victims or injured people.”

Ch Supt Irene Curtis has spoken out about the situation in her first week as the new president of the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales.

“The police service needs to identify and address the increasing demands created by gaps and reductions in other agencies’ provision,” she said.

“Already officers are finding themselves dealing with matters which would normally require the presence of an ambulance. In some cases officers are simply replacing ambulances because there isn’t one to attend. Police officers are neither trained nor equipped to deal with these issues and it is unfair to expect them to do so.”