Representing Police Forces

Representing Police Forces at St Pauls Chambers

At St Pauls Chambers, we have barristers who are well equipped to provide advice in regards to matters of police discipline and, where necessary, advocacy on all of the following issues and more. Written advice is turned around quickly, and is well researched and clearly expressed.

Members have experience of representing police forces in relation to the whole panoply of issues regarding discipline in the police. Cases in which judgements are in the public domain include:

• R (Fisher) v Chief Constable of Northumbria (police injury pensions);
• R (Flint) v Chief Constable of North Yorkshire (sick pay entitlement);
• R (Chief Constable of North Yorkshire) v IPCC (whether lawful to refuse to record complaint about Chief Constable’s declining to investigate alleged criminal wrongdoing personally).

Our team also has recent experience of acting for police and crime commissioners alleging unjust enrichment of former Chief Constables by the making of extra-statutory payments.

Police forces often require independent legal advice on a vast range of police discipline matters. These include:

• Civil actions being brought against them;
• Judicial review;
• Their statutory powers;
• Disciplinary issues;
• Inquests;
• Disability discrimination claims;
• Police pensions disputes;
• Their relationship with their police and crime commissioner.

Police and crime commissioners sometimes require legal advice about what they can and should be doing to hold the forces they are responsible for to account.