Police Scotland has rolled out a fleet of electric cars – but haven’t given officers proper training on how to use them. That’s the claim from the body which represents rank and file police officers amid safety fears over the £25million group of new emergency vehicles.
The Scottish Police Federation said not a single cop has been given any “hands-on instruction” in their use or maintenance – even though many are driving them on a day-to-day basis.
It claims this raises health and safety issues for the officers and also compromises their ability to deal with road traffic offences involving electric car and van owners.
Brian Jones, vice chair of the Scottish Police Federation, said there are significant performance differences between electric and non-electric cars, for example in the use of the accelerator, which require proper training.
He believes the force could be prosecuted if an officer is injured while driving an electric vehicle without the proper training. He said: “We have brought a piece of new equipment into the workplace but haven’t trained officers how to use it.
“Police Scotland have put the cart before the horse here. You wouldn’t give a firearms officer a new firearm if they were not fully conversant with it.
“Would Asda, Tesco or Sainsbury’s roll out a programme like this for their drivers without proper training in place, I
don’t think so. So why are we doing it?”
At present, Police Scotland has 903 electric cars out of 3500. The aim is to increase that number to 1200 by the end of the year, with 400 charging points.
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents officers up to the rank of chief inspector, is also concerned at the continued lack of vehicle charging points at police stations.
It said officers are having to leave marked and unmarked police cars at public charging points overnight, which is
putting both them and the cars at risk.
Some officers are even forced to use their own charging points at home at their own cost. Others are charging up their cars on their days off to make sure they have one for work the next day.
Last July Police Scotland admitted there were 23 police stations with electric cars but no charging points. The Scottish Police Federation is further concerned at Police Scotland’s ability to provide a 24-hour police service with an all-electric fleet if there are any future failures in the power supply or grid.
Jones added: “We are nowhere near ready for full electrification of Police Scotland’s fleet. If we need to continue using petrol and diesel, then that is the way it has to be.”
Police Scotland signed a contract worth £25million with Hyundai in 2020 to provide electric cars and aims to have an all-electric fleet by 2030.
The vehicles are used as fleet cars by uniform cops and detectives mainly for routine and non-urgent police calls. However, they are not suitable for emergencies, heavy loads or high-speed pursuits.
Police Scotland has said it aims to be the first UK emergency service with an entire fleet of Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles (ULEV) and plans to phase out its diesel and petrol motors over the next five years.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said “Police Scotland is committed to becoming the UK’s first fully Ultra Low Emission blue light fleet by 2030. We are continuing a gradual rollout of electric vehicles across the country, with ULEVs representing 28% of our current Fleet.
“To support this rollout, we are installing EV charging infrastructure at all sites our electric vehicles will operate from. While this work is ongoing, we have ensured none are used for urgent call roles, and are instead utilised for general purpose or non-response duties.
“Our strategy is to utilise our own network as well as the public and partnership network and therefore we do not issue electric vehicles to areas that cannot operate using a combination of these.
“Officers and staff at all sites with EVs are invited along to an awareness day where Fleet representatives demonstrate how to operate the vehicles and answer questions. Driver training instructors are also there to offer practical driving sessions.
“Extensive awareness documentation is provided and every electric vehicle has a QR code which links through to a tutorial video on how to use it.
“We have started the process of trialling electric vehicles for marked response duties. We will only introduce electric response vehicles once we have carried out rigorous testing and are satisfied they are fit for purpose in a frontline policing role.”
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