Police prosecuted for driving too fast

A total of 23 Staffordshire police officers have been prosecuted for speeding while driving to call outs on blue lights, it was revealed today.

Policemen and women are snapped by speed cameras 15 times a day on average.

But they are spared court action and being hit with fines in the majority of cases because they are doing their duty, rushing to get to emergencies.

But, in the past three years, 23 officers have faced prosecution as they should not have been driving that quickly, or using blue lights.

Ten of the cases covered the period from April last year to the end of March this year, eight were in 2010/11, and five in 2009/10.

The force has introduced "education initiatives" to reaffirm to officers the policy of using blue lights.

Superintendent Philip Bladen, head of the professional standards department, said prosecutions were rare.

"Police officers regularly respond to emergency incidents and therefore it is inevitable that sometimes safety cameras are activated.

"Staffordshire Police maintains accurate records of such occasions and scrutinises each one carefully.

"The majority of the activations are justified and the drivers involved are legally exempt from speeding regulations or prosecution.

"When the activation is not justified Staffordshire Police takes the matter very seriously and the driver is dealt with as any other motorist would be."

The force introduced its own internal driver permit scheme for driving police vehicles in April last year.

Drivers accrue virtual points for breaching force policy.

A further 37 cases of officers breaching internal force driving standards were reported from April to December last year.

There were 5,324 cases in which police drivers were snapped by speed cameras across the county between April last year and the end of March this year.