The Police Regulations 2003

PART 3 DUTY

Duty to carry out lawful orders

20.  Every member of a police force shall carry out all lawful orders and shall at all times punctually and promptly perform all appointed duties and attend to all matters within the scope of his office as a constable.

Limitations on duties to be assigned to members statutorily transferred

21.—(1) Where a member of a police force has previously served in a police force for an area comprised in whole or in part in the area for which his present force is maintained and he ceased to be a member of his present force by reason only of one or more such statutory transfers as are mentioned in paragraph (2) then, subject to paragraph (3), he shall not be assigned to duties which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, make it necessary for him to move his home to a place which is outside the area for which his former force was maintained.

(2) In paragraph (1) the reference to a statutory transfer is a reference to a statutory transfer being—

(a) prior to 1st April 1995, a transfer in accordance with the provisions of an amalgamation scheme under the Police Act 1964;

(b) on or after 1st April 1995, a transfer in accordance with an order made under section 21 or 21A of the Police Act 1964 or section 32 of the Act;

(c) a transfer taking effect on 1st April 1974,

except that where the former force was the police force for a borough the said reference is to any statutory transfer.

(3) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to a person by reason of his previous service in a particular police force if—

(a) since he became a member of that police force he has been a chief officer;

(b) after he was statutorily transferred from that police force he has given written notice to the chief officer of the police force of which he was at the time a member that the protection accorded by paragraph (1) should cease to apply to him, or

(c) that force was a county or combined police force and after he was statutorily transferred therefrom but before 1st February 1968 he was assigned to such duties as are mentioned in paragraph (1),

without prejudice, however, to the application of paragraph (1) to him by reason of service in another police force after his statutory transfer from the force first mentioned in this paragraph and before his statutory transfer to his present force.

(4) Paragraph (1) shall apply in the case of a member of a police force who ceased to be such and became a serviceman, a reversionary member of a home police force or a central police officer—

(a) where on ceasing to be such, he resumed service in or, as the case may be, exercised his right of reversion to, his former force, as if he had not ceased to be a member of that force, or

(b) where on ceasing to be such, he resumed service in or, as the case may be, exercised his right of reversion to some other force to which members of his former force had been transferred as mentioned in paragraph (2), as if he had been so transferred from his former force to that other force.

(5) In this regulation, “present force” and “former force” mean, respectively, the force first mentioned and that secondly mentioned in paragraph (1).

Duty

22.—(1) The Secretary of State shall determine—

(a) the normal periods of duty of a member of a police force;

(b) the periods allowed for refreshment;

(c) the variable shift arrangements which may be brought into operation by a chief officer;

(d) the manner and timing of the publication of duty rosters and the matters to be contained therein; and

(e) the circumstances in which travelling time may be treated as duty.

(2) In making a determination under paragraph (1)(a) the Secretary of State may confer on the chief officer discretion to fix the time at which a period commences for the purposes of the determination and may determine the conditions subject to which that discretion is to be exercised.

(3) In making a determination under paragraph (1)(e) the Secretary of State may—

(a) confer on the chief officer discretion to fix a limit on the travelling time which is to be treated as duty;

(b) confer on the police authority discretion to fix a limit on the amount of the expenses which may be reimbursed in respect of such travelling time.

(4) In this regulation “travelling time” means time spent by a member of a police force in travelling to and from his home—

(a) where he is required to perform his normal daily period of duty in more than one tour of duty, between two tours; or

(b) where he is recalled to duty between two tours of duty, in consequence of his recall.

Meetings of Police Federation treated as police duty

23.—(1) The attendance of a member of a police force at one of the following meetings of the Police Federation, that is to say, a quarterly meeting of a branch board, an ordinary meeting of a central committee, a meeting of the conferences arrangements committee, the annual meeting of the joint central committee with the joint central committee of the Scottish Police Federation and the central committee of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland, the annual meeting of a central conference or a women’s regional conference shall be treated as an occasion of police duty.

(2) Subject to the approval of the chief officer, the attendance of a member of a police force at an additional meeting of a branch board of the Police Federation or at a meeting of a committee of a branch board shall be treated as an occasion of police duty.

(3) Subject to the approval of the Secretary of State, the attendance of a member of a police force at a meeting of the Police Federation, other than such a meeting as is mentioned in paragraph (1) or (2), shall be treated as an occasion of police duty.