Roads policing (a UK term relating to dedicated highway patrol and traffic enforcement units) evokes mixed feelings from the public and from policing professionals alike. Nobody likes to be caught speeding, yet frequently those same people regularly state that they don’t want speeding in their town, village, or neighborhood. In the policing profession, roads policing does not seem to carry the same currency as other specializations like firearms or public order, something witnessed firsthand by the author when, after two decades in those other roles, his command was expanded to include the Metropolitan Police Service’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, the largest roads policing command in the United Kingdom. Even running the UK’s largest roads and transport policing command didn’t cut it with other “Ops” leaders! Challenges around perception occur as well because, within the UK government, roads policing sits between two authorities, with the Home Office responsible for policing and criminal justice and the Department for Transport holding responsibility for road safety.

Having been privileged for five years to hold the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) lead for Roads Operations, Intelligence, and Investigations (NRPOII), a pan-UK working group within Chief Constable Jo Shiner’s overarching roads policing portfolio, the author was recently asked to reflect on the current challenges and speak to partners and stakeholders at the Road Safety Support National Safer Roads Partnerships Conference. The assigned topic was “Roads Policing, The Art of the Possible.” In considering this, the author expanded the building blocks of his deliberations to not simply consider what is possible, but what is permissible and acceptable within the UK’s Peelian model of “policing by consent.” Ultimately, this thought process resulted in these four key questions to frame delivering the art of the possible through roads policing:

In order to access the rest of the article sign in with your IACP or Subscriber credentials.