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Four
Seasons Law & the Police. |  |
| A general public perception is that the
police are the lead agency in approving an event, including those on public
roads. In reality we can neither approve nor ban events, our role, together
with our partners on the Safety Advisory Group, is to promote high levels of
safety and minimise any adverse impact. |
| n practice most events pass without any
police involvement whatsoever, our presence on the Safety Advisory Group is in
furtherance of our core policing principles of preventing crime, keeping the
peace and helping and reassuring our communities. As well as offering advice we
ensure compliance with appropriate legislation, regulations and guidance. Our
aim is that the public are confident events are held safely and with as little
disruption as possible. |
Policing of events on the public highway. Historically the
perception has been held by some that the Police are the lead agency in terms
of managing safety around such events. These changes reflect National Policing
Guidance which directs us to our core responsibilities including the prevention
and detection of crime, maintaining the peace, traffic regulations governed by
road traffic closure or regulation orders and activating contingency plans in
the event of an immediate threat to life. |
| One of the key impacts of this policy is
that Police Officers will not be used as part of a traffic management plan
introduced in consequence of a closure order unless this is completely
unavoidable. The historical practice of Police leading and accompanying
parades, control and direction of traffic will only occur where circumstances
dictate there is no appropriate alternative. |
| This clearly has the
potential to result in changes to the numbers and type of roles undertaken by
the Police. Those events which are of a national significance for example
Remembrance Day are not affected by this guidance. |
| We fully recognise that
these changes will create significant challenges for some event organisers and
we are committed to engage and work with affected parties to provide support
and guidance to achieve a mutually acceptable solution. Where necessary a
phased approach will be adopted to ensure any impact on the Community and
organisers is minimised. |
| In practical terms this will reduce the
Police involvement in a large number of events and indeed a number will
inevitably not involve the Police at all. |
Special Police Services. The responsibility for public safety rests
with the organisers of an event and the owner of the land on which it takes
place. Special Police Services is the provision by the police of an additional
special service i.e. beyond that which the police would consider necessary to
meet their public duty obligations, and which is provided at the request of
organising bodies of certain events and for which the organising body must
pay |
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