Fighting the force

This year has seen a sea change in the way prosecutors have approached allegations of assault against the police. There has been a clear recognition on the part of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) that the public will no longer accept that officers can be treated as if they are above the rule of law.

This month alone has seen the successful convictions of sergeant Mark Andrews, sentenced to six months for actual bodily harm, along with special police constable Peter Lightfoot, sentenced to two years for assault and one year for lying in court on 1 September. Last week, territorial support group officers PC Nigel Cowley, Roderick James-Bowen, Mark Jones and DC John Donohue appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates' Court to face charges of causing actual bodily harm contrary to the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 on Babar Ahmed during his arrest in December 2003.

Meanwhile, September has also brought the death of one of the greatest judges of our time, Lord Bingham of Cornhill. Tributes to his exclaimed judgments on civil liberties and his deep commitment to due process and the rule of law is a fitting example of how fundamentally important it is for there to be accountability of those who are trusted to uphold the law.

His recent publication The Rule of Law was inspired by his fear that Britain was losing a basic respect for the idea of liberty and the excessive use of powers by state officials, including the police, on the public at large were eroding the foundations of our democratic society. His recent speech at the Convention on Modern Liberty in 2009 again delivered a clear message that state officers 'should prompt a principled determination to ensure that the permissible exercise of such powers is strictly defined, regulated and monitored' '“ an idea that should be taken on board by public bodies.

Look twice

The CPS has in the past been accused of double standards when it came to prosecuting police officers for allegations of assaults resulting from arrests and detention of individuals. But the recent change in approach has demonstrated that they are prepared to deal with allegations of criminal offences against the police.

The emphasis in their charging decisions against the police shows a determination to abide by their Code of Crown Prosecutors: 'It is important for the maintenance of public and police confidence that a different standard is not allowed to develop in cases involving persons serving with the police.'

While there will still be many cases where there are no prosecutions following allegations of assaults against police officers, redress for serious assaults do fall within the code. Other public bodies such as the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) have adopted a similar approach when faced with evidence of criminal acts by the police.

In a recent IPCC report I received following my client's appeal against the Directorate of Professional Standards investigation into my client's complaints of unlawful arrest, detention and excessive use of force, there was an acknowledgment by the IPCC that 'it was possible that a criminal act had been committed' against my client. However, they did not refer the matter to the CPS as they could not decide whether the injuries my client sustained were common assault, with a statutory time bar of six months from the date of the incident, or actual bodily harm. I believe the evidence would satisfy a referral to the CPS for actual bodily harm and I am now pursing this on behalf of my client, especially in light of the Barber Ahmed case in which four out of the five Territorial Support Group officers had their criminal case file looked at again following a successful civil action against the police for damages in March last year.

So the concept that there must be due process in maintaining the rule of law is holding firm against police officers and hopefully this new trend by the CPS to prosecute when there is sufficient evidence will continue. But these changes will not come over night and the recent Freedom of Information request by the BBC indicates a majority of complaints were still being made in respect of allegations of assaults.

The Association of Police Authorities will be proposing that the independence of the complaints process is strengthened so that it is more transparent and accountable. The budget cuts in policing, which may see the loss of 40,000 frontline jobs, could also result in the proposed process being fast tracked and push accountability to the top of the police's agenda, especially if the police authorities are conscious of the costs of claims made against the police and prosecutions for criminal offences.

We will need to wait until next month to discover whether the police will be subject to the cuts before we can discuss whether a new style of accountability will emerge.