Derbyshire Police officer’s high-speed driving put lives at risk

Derbyshire Police HQ in Ripley, Derbyshire. Image by LDRS.

The public were put at serious risk when a Derbyshire police officer drove a police car at high speed despite previous warnings about his driving.

At a misconduct hearing, it was said that ex-acting sergeant Reece Froggatt’s manner of driving caused “close call” misses with motorists while investigating a bomb threat.

The hearing was told how his driving behaviour led to a significant prospect of harm which “could have been death or serious injury to a member of the public”.

But it was argued there was no need for him to drive in such a manner because the bomb threat he was called to had diminished.

The incident in July 2024 happened when officers were called out to investigate a bomb threat incident in Wirksworth.

However, it turned out to be a hoax, with the female suspect known to have done publicity stunts before.

It was argued that acting sergeant Froggatt was made aware the bomb threat risk was “significantly diminishing”.

It then transpired that the suspect was in Matlock outside Costa. Froggatt then drove to Matlock in a police car with a colleague.

During the journey the officer was found to have driven through Wirksworth and Cromford at excessive speeds and crossed double white lines “sometimes with traffic coming the other way”.

The officer contravened red lights and “failed to adjust speed to take account of a pedestrian crossing the road”.

Froggatt argued he regarded this as a high-risk incident which justified the manner of his driving and questioned some of the allegations put to him.

It was found the manner of Froggatt’s driving fell “well below the standards” of policing.

Papers also state that in 2023 he was found speeding without justification on several occasions.

An independent panel chairing the misconduct hearing wrote in its conclusion: “We accept that any emergency response involves an element of risk. The driver’s duty is to reduce that risk as far as possible, while still making progress.

“In our view, the FO [former officer] fell well short of doing that.

“We take the view that a panel could conclude that members of the public were put at risk of very serious harm by the actions of former PC Froggatt. He was the acting sergeant. We find that a relevant factor.

“We conclude that the FO did not follow his training in the way he approached his driving. He had a duty to other road users and to colleagues to drive in a way which did not put the public at risk.”

The report adds that at the time Froggatt appeared to be struggling with stress and he was in a significant family situation.

But, despite the misconduct, the panel believed Froggatt was “entirely right” to take the bomb threat seriously.

The panel added it was not a case of deliberate rule breaking and he “acted in good faith”.

The report added: “The fact that information suggested this might not be a real threat did not mean that it could be assumed to be the case.”

It was concluded Froggatt would have received a final written warning had he not resigned from office in November 2024.

Temporary Deputy Chief Constable Michelle Shooter said: “All the training that officers receive makes it clear about the risks that they must balance – and how they must take into account the risk to the public from their own actions behind the wheel.

“On this occasion that driving fell well below what was acceptable and he was rightly taken to a gross misconduct hearing.”

There was no prosecution in relation to dangerous driving offences.