Police in recovery row
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by Juliet Parish
• A recovery operators association plans to go to the courts in a bid to halt all UK police forces contracting our the management of roadside recoveries.
The 600-strong Road Rescue Recovery Association is funding a High Court judicial review against Leicestershire Constabulary's appointment of a third party to help it run its recovery operator scheme. The RRRA believes that Leicestershire Constabulary's appointment of the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation goes beyond the force's legal powers.
The Association of Chief Police Officers is advising forces to go further than Leicestershire police and contract out the complete management of recovery schemes to free police time.
RRRA chairman Peter Cosby says that when police contract out the management of their schemes, agents tend to cut down the number of operators they use. At least one agent now asks operators to pay for
their own patch of road. If the judicial review succeeds, the RRRA will consider similar legal action in at least eight other counties where police have contracted out all or part of their recovery management.