Written evidence to be reported to the House

Part of Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 6:00 pm on 16 October 2007.

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Jan Berry: I have no problem with guidance, provided that it is not written in such a way that removes discretion from the police officer. Police officers must be allowed to deal with situations as they present themselves. If there are too many guidelines, the officers’ hands are tied as to how they should deal with the situation and that level of discretion is removed. Police officers need to be allowed to make decisions using common sense and discretion, without fearing that their decision will be finely examined and criticised afterwards. That is why police officers stop doing certain things.