The Police (Performance) Regulations 2020

Police friend

5.—(1) The officer concerned may choose—

(a) a police officer;

(b) a police staff member, or

(c) where the officer concerned is a member of a police force, a person nominated by the officer’s staff association,

who is not otherwise involved in the matter, to act as a police friend.

(2) The police friend may—

(a) advise the officer concerned throughout the proceedings under these Regulations;

(b) represent the officer at any meeting under these Regulations, unless the officer has the right to be legally represented under regulation 6 and chooses to be so represented;

(c) make representations to the appropriate authority concerning any aspect of the proceedings under these Regulations, and

(d) accompany the officer to any meeting which the officer is required to attend under these Regulations.

(3) Where the police friend is a police officer or a police staff member, the chief officer of police of the force of which the police friend is a member must permit the police friend to use a reasonable amount of duty time for the purposes referred to in paragraph (2).

(4) The reference in paragraph (3) to the force of which the police friend is a member includes a reference to the force maintained for the police area for which a special constable is appointed and the force in which a police staff member is serving.