LAW ASSIGNMENT

Law Assignment

ELS 1. Law Assignment

1. With reference to decided cases discuss the development of a duty of care owed by the police to individuals. If a police officer tried to protect a member of the public from attack but failed to prevent injury to the member of the public, there should, in his Lordship's view, generally be no liability in tort on the police officer for public policy reasons. In the circumstances liability should not turn on shades of personal judgment and courage in the heat of the moment. But Inspector Bell had acknowledged his police duty to help the plaintiff. Yet he had not, on the extraordinary facts found by the judge, even tried to do so.

Police Duty to come to the aid of a Fellow Officer. In his Lordship's judgment, the inspector's acknowledged breach of police duty should also incrementally be seen as a breach of a legal duty of care. The duty was a duty to comply with a specific or acknowledged police duty where failure to do so would expose a fellow officer to unnecessary risk of injury. (Bean, P et al 1999 Pp. 156-158)

In addition, the public interest would be ill-served if the common law did not oblige police officers to do their personal best in situations such as the one before the court. The decision should not be interpreted in any shape or form as undermining the general principle laid down in a recent case.

The Court of Appeal so held dismissing an appeal by the defendant, the Chief Constable of Northumbria Police from a decision of Mr Justice Astill on July 30, 1997 that Inspector Stuart Bell of the defendant's force was under a duty of care owed at common law and actionable in tort to go to the assistance of the plaintiff, Julie Christine Costello, who was being attacked by a prisoner. 2In another case, the Court of Appeal held that it was arguable that the Police owed a duty of care to a victim of crime, where someone's life or safety had been so firmly placed in the hands of the police as to make it incumbent on them to take at least elementary steps to protect it and that unexcused neglect to do so could sound in damages if harm of the material kind resulted. For public policy reasons the police were under no general duty of care to members of the public for their activities in the investigation and suppression of crime:

Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire [1989] 1 AC 53. But that was not an absolute blanket immunity and circumstances might exceptionally arise when the police assumed a responsibility, giving rise to a duty of care to a particular member of the public. Duty of Care to respond to emergencies. Neither the police nor other public rescue services were under any general obligation, giving rise to a duty of care, to respond to emergency calls Alexandrou v Oxford [1993] 4 All ER 328 nor if ...