A former senior police officer has called for an independent review of the hit-and-run crash scandal that has engulfed Norfolk Constabulary.
The retired Norfolk superintendent said he feared “collusion and cover-up” could emerge over the handling of the aftermath of a patrol car failing to stop after causing a 50mph crash.
PC Karl Warren drove the BMW X5 armed response vehicle - which was not on an emergency response - into the back of an Audi.
Criminal charges against the roads policing and firearms officer were later dropped after he said he had no recollection of the crash on March 5 last year.
He will also not face misconduct charges after medical evidence that he was suffering from amnesia at the time.
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The scandal has prompted outrage from members of the public and from former Norfolk police officers since this newspaper revealed it earlier this month.
The former officer, who asked not to be named, said he had spoken to numerous serving and retired officers about the case.
“The perception of this from the people who have spoken to me is one of abhorrent disgust,” he said.
“I suspect we are nowhere near the collusion and cover-up that might have gone on.”
Norfolk police has said “proper procedures were followed” in its handling of the case and that the crash investigation had been subject to an independent review by another police force in “the interests of transparency”.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said it is to consider whether to review the case after the 34-year-old woman driving the Audi raised concerns about how police had handled her complaint.
The retired senior officer said an external source was needed to investigate the “whole chain of command scenario”.
“Eventually, like all investigations, someone will crack and then individuals start coming out of the 'do as you are told' regime and tell the truth,” he said.
“They have to be brave though. It is difficult for outsiders to understand the needs of those seeking advancement in the service, misplaced loyalty and fear of reprisal.”
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN THE CRASH WAS REPORTED?
The former superintendent said any external investigation would likely want to establish what happened immediately after the crash which occurred at 1.07pm on the A146 at Barnby, near Lowestoft, was reported.
Official police findings, seen by this newspaper, state that a police incident log crime reference number was created at 6.46pm following an email from the victim.
She had previously been kept on hold for more than two and half hours after calling the non-emergency 101 number.
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Suffolk Constabulary checked the BMW registration number on the police national computer and discovered the vehicle was registered to Norfolk police.
The incident was then transferred to Norfolk Constabulary which created its own crime reference number at 6.47pm and began an accident investigation.
The former officer said: “Because the incident involves a police vehicle and officers it must be forwarded to the shift supervisor, who in turn must put in on the action sheet to the officer in charge of roads and armed policing division, he in turn must inform the assistant chief constable.
“I am not assuming that this didn’t take place, but what I have been told by people is that it might not have. There looks to be something horribly wrong here.”
PC Warren was first challenged about his actions the day after the crash after another officer, PC Ryan Hargrave - who was a passenger in the BMW at the time - emailed a sergeant to report the incident.
Video footage of that meeting has been lost after it was not saved because it was marked as “non-evidential”.
PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN POLICE IS ‘BROKEN’
Questions around the case come at a time when public confidence in the police across the UK is falling.
The chief inspector of constabulary Andy Cooke this week said public trust in the police was “hanging by a thread” in the wake of a series of “dreadful” scandals and systemic failings.
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The former Norfolk officer said: “I believe that thread is now broken.
“This could be the tip of the iceberg and you cannot get away from the fact that members of the public do not understand how their expectations of the police service has arrived at this scenario.”
Mr Cooke, who before his appointment served as a police officer for 36 years, insisted policing was not “broken beyond repair” but that the service had a “limited window of opportunity” to rebuild public trust.
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