Barred or Not Barred

 

Barred or Not Barred?

Since arrangements for creating a list of ‘barred officers’ has been in place in England and Wales it has always struck me as rather strange that the provisions did not extend to Non Home Department Police Forces (NHDPF) – especially since some of the most egregious cases in recent years involved officers in the Metropolitan Police who had previously served in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary.

For reasons I don’t understand British Transport Police Misconduct Panels sometimes include in their sanctions that an officer’s name should be placed on the ‘Barred List’.  I have asked BTP to tell me how this is possible, given the current state of the law.

The government has moved to plug the barring  gap.  But rather than make provision for the inclusion of NHDPF officers on the police barred (and advisory) lists it is (subject to the successful passage of the Crime and Policing Bill – which is now in its last stages) creating separate barred lists for each of the big three NHDPFs and requiring all law enforcement employers to consult those lists as well as the police barred list.  I presume that there must be a legal impediment to the use of a single list but I don’t know what it is.

The Bill does not include officers of the Port and Park etc constabularies.  Small in number, especially in this context, but there is a principle here.  In theory there will be no bar to an ex officer who appears on the police, or BTP etc barred lists being employed and attested in one of the small specialised constabularies.  Wearing police uniform and holding the powers of constable this can’t be a good thing.  The same point also applies in reverse.  

I am sure that in most cases the normal process of recruitment and references will weed out rogue candidates.  But these processes are not thought to be sufficient in policing – hence the creation of the barring regime.  Moreover this small hole in the system could easily have been plugged by a few words in the Bill. Perhaps by extending it to all who hold the office of constable.  I will report further as this legislation progresses.

 

Philip Trendall

Nov 2025

  It is very hard to talk about the role of NHDPFs without looking at the law.  The legal background to NHDPFs is complex and therefore I should remind anyone reading this is that I am not a lawyer.   I am certainly not qualified to offer any advice on legal subjects.  The views expressed are my own.  I do offer a consultancy service on related topics but legal advice must be sought from a qualified (and I would suggest specialised) lawyer.