Driving Permits

Dear N Smith

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0524/2009

We acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information (FOI) request which
was received by Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 7th October 2009.

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. You will receive a response within the statutory
timescale of twenty working days as defined by the Act. In some
circumstances, we may be unable to achieve this deadline. If this is the
case, you will be informed and given a revised time-scale at the earliest
opportunity.

If we require any further clarification regarding this request, you will be
notified.

We would advise you that the nature of certain requests may involve payment
of a fee. If this is the case, you will be notified.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
telephone on 0345 456 456 4 asking for the Information Access Office or
email [Cambridgeshire Constabulary request email]

Regards

David Price
Information Access Office
Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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Dear N.Smith

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0524/2009

In reply to your request for information under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, dated 07/10/2009.

Your request was received as:
I wanted to enquire about the driving permits offered by your Force to
Police Officers. The questions I have are:

1) What levels of driving permits are offered?
2) What do each of the driving permits allow the holder to do?
3) What training is required for each of the driving permits and how are
the candidates assessed? How long in length are the courses
for each of the respective driving permits?,
4) Are any of the driving permits offered by your Force, offered in a
modular basis, (i.e. are they offered in modules of 1 week at a time until
the course is complete etc),
5) Which of the permits are available to Special Constables?
6) If any modular courses are offered, are the available to Special
Constables?,
7) How many Special Constables in your Force have driving permits which
allow them to respond (i.e. use blue lights, sirens and allowed the holder
to utilise the relevant exemptions afforded to them in law with respect of
speeding, going through red lights etc),

I would appreciate any information that is available, in particular the
information that relates to Special Constables.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (The Act) requires us to handle all
requests in a manner that is blind to the identity of the requestor. Any
information released in response to a request is regarded as being
published, and therefore in the public domain without caveat.

We have completed all searches within Cambridgeshire Constabulary and
hereby enclose your response.

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for Police Officers. A lot of the questions you asked, and specifically
questions 1, 2 & 3, are covered by an updated police driver training manual
that was launched by ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) in June
2009. In case you have not seen that manual I have given a link below that
will take you to the relevant site.

http://www.acpos.police.uk/Documents/Pol...

Question 4 - This asked if any of the courses are offered in a modular
form. Within Cambridgeshire none of the courses are offered in modular
form.

Question 5 - This asked about permits available to Special Constables.
Within Cambridgeshire Special Constables can receive Basic driving
authority only.

Question 6 - This asked about modular courses offered to Special
Constables. Please see our response to question 4.

Question 7 - This asked for details about how many Special Constables have
driving permits that allow them to use blue lights / sirens etc. Within
Cambridgeshire no Special Constables are given this authority.

If you are unhappy with this response, please see the attachment below,
which sets out your rights to appeal.

(See attached file: Complaint Rights.pdf)

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact the Information Access Office via email, or on telephone number
0345 456 456 4 extension 8163.

Regards

Alec Taylor
Information Access Office
Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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