b The Law The newspaper of Essex Police Issue 316 February 2000 Dog and traffic units to relocate under merger ON THE MOVET • THE bases for Essex and M11 Control (acquired from the Southern Road Policing Area police constable posts will be lost as Metropolitan Police under the April will encompass units at Laindon, a result of the changes and there Police's new Mobile bv Kim White l boundary changes). Resources Rayleigh and Rochford. The dog will be no support staff Support Division from Harlow Traffic will relocate to units at Laindon and Rochford will redundancies. During a lengthy have been unveiled. these two units and the dog section, remain while the dog unit at South consultation period officers were The future structure will be currently based in Harlow, will relo- Ockendon will relocate to the M11 asked to state their location They include the as follows: cate to the M11 Control. Control. Rayleigh Marine Unit will preference. Those officers have Northern Policing Central Road Policing Unit remain. already received details of their relocation of three Road Decisions about the future of proposed location. Area will encompass units at will remain at Chelmsford, while dog sections and a police headquarters will continue to vacated buildings are still to be In 74 per cent of cases Essex Stanway, Newport, Bocking and made. Although there will be fewer Police has been able to offer the house the Force Support Unit and traffic unit. Thorpe. The dog section current- dog sections, there will be an officer's first choice. It is being made The changes will come ly based at Ipswich Road, Diving Section. Burnham Marine increase in the number of dogs by clear, however, that the proposals about following the merger Colchester, will relocate to Unit will remain as will the Air two, to compensate for the are still open for further Stanway. Thorpe dogs remain. Support Unit in Boreham, near Met/Essex boundary change. consultation. of the traffic and Western Road Policing Area Chelmsford and Sandon Dog In terms of stafing levels, chief At sergeant level there will be a operations units in April. will encompass a unit at Brentwood Section. officers are keen to stress that no reduction of two or three posts through natural wastage. There will also be a reduction of four inspector posts and consultation is currently underway with existing inspectors as to their future preferences. Interviews for the four chief inspector posts have been carried out and decisions were being made by chief officers as The Law went to press. The successful candidate for the commander's job is Supt Doug Adams. Assistant Chief Constable (Operations) Joe Edwards, said: "Essex Police is committed to improving the quality of service provided to the public. These changes will not lead to a reduction in police officers. In fact the changes are another example , of re-investing management and administration costs into front-line policing." Newly promoted superintendents Sue Harrison and Terry Shearn will be taking up posts at headquarters. Supt Harrison will take the helm of the newly named Professional Standards Department, while Supt Shearn will head the review aspect of Corporate Support. Supt Julia Jeapes becomes divisional commander of Chelmsford and Supt Jim Noakes will head Rayleigh division. 1l I 2 THE LAW, FEBRUARY 2000 b Welcome fall in injury claims THE criminal injury claims received, the defendant will progression and expense of cases by settled in 1999 totalled 33. normally not be permitted to obtain way of active case management, We have at this time 25 their own expert report. trials will last longer and there will be allowance for oral evidence but Criminal Injury Cwrf ~lOeeeding~ parties will still be expected to co- Compensation Appeals in If the case cannot be settled at the operate and agree what expert various stages of above stage, court proceedings will evidence they can. still have-to be issued. ~oiever, preparation. he total figure The aim of the new rules is to claim, and why the other party is this is now seen as a weapon of last Role of the expert I of settled claims in 1999 was provide justice that is both quicker believed to be at fault, together with resort. One of the problems with the old and cheaper, but are they likely to the h11 extent of the injury and £53,045. At the current procedure was that each side would succeed and how will they affect When cases have been issued, time, there are 51 CICA losses incurred. Defendants have build up a team of experts, which members of the Police Federation? each case will be allocated to a three months to investigate the could cause delay and significantly claims in various stages of The rules provide for a system claim and to indicate whether they particular 'track' by the court. The progress. three tracks are: increase the costs of a case. Lord which encourages the settlement of admit or deny fault. Woolf's reforms are aimed at I feel I must express disputes, with the aim of providing If an admission is obtained from a The small claims track, for cases worth less than £1,000 in limiting the experts' involvement so satisfaction at the fact that all faster compensation for a claimant defendant, then they are bound by that in fast track cases no experts and lower legal costs. that admission for any claim up to a personal injury matters and £5,000 the statistics quoted in relation in all other cases. will give oral evidence at trial and, to the CICA are falling. This Under the old system, legal costs value of £15,000. If the defendant in multi track cases, it is highly were often greater than the denies liability, he must now give The fast track, for cases worth welcoming trend is, I believe, less than 335,000 and where the unlikely that there will be more compensation awarded to the full reasons for his denial. 'This will than two or three experts, even in attributable to the implementa- trial will last no longer than one injured party. The over-riding greatly assist members' claims, as the most complicated cases. tion of the Conflict Resolution day. objective of these reforms, they will now be provided with Under the old rules, it was felt Training and the protective therefore, is to ensure that cases substantial information about the The multi track, for cases that experts had become too equipment provided by the are dealt with fairly and defendant's case at a very early worth more than £15,000 or those partisan by always maintaining force. expeditiously and, most stage. This will enable our which are especially complex. their client3 own position. The new On the civil side, 41 claims were importantly, in a way which is solicitors to assess the merits of a The vast majority of Police rules promote a sense of co- settled in 1999, a slight increase on proportionate to the amount of claim much earlier on, particularly Federation claims will fall within operation abetween the parties' last year's total of 39. The total money claimed. as defendants will now be obliged to the fast track. This will provide a experts, whose over-riding duty is amount of compensation paid to Courts will have greater control disclose their relevant quick and simplified procedure for now to the court and no longer to members in civil claims was of the litigation process. They will documentation prior to the start of resolving cases. The courts will the party that has instructed that £1,237,443.54, an increase on last dictate a timetable for a case, court proceedings. seek to manage the case to expert. year's total of £404,411.74. The determine the requisite level of In a personal injury claim, the encourage parties to narrow down What this means is that the number of civil claims outstanding investigation and monitor claimant will, at the same time, the issues. Trials will be listed expert will no longer be able to alter at this time is 100, a slight decrease expenditure. nominate a medical expert, whom within 30 weeks of allocation and their reports at the request of a on last year's total of 104. the solicitors will instruct to will not last for more than one day. client and their opinion will be final The biggest change in civil justice Dealing with claims prepare a medical report on the No oral expert evidence is likely to and binding. in the past 100 years took place on When an action is started, a very injuries sustained. The other party be allowed. April 26, 1999, when the Civil detailed letter of claim is sent to the may agree or object to their choice In cases allocated to the multi Offers to settle I Procedure Rules, produced by Lord other party, setting out the exact but, if they object, they must give track, where the courts will still The rules have introduced an Woolf, came into operation. nature and circumstances of a valid reasons. If no objection is keep strict controls on the important new weapon to the I claimant in the form of 'Part 36 1 phone O?ziimant can now make a for- I mal offer to settle to the other side THERE is a new mobile phone deal available on the issues of liability and/or where there is no line rental and it's not pre-pay. damages, even before proceedings For more information ring NW on 0800 are 006000 quoting "Police Federation".