Police chief calls for clearer e-scooter laws

A police chief has said she would like the law clarified around the use of e-scooters, describing the current situation as "ambiguous" and "very difficult to enforce".

The chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police Sarah Crew has been on BBC Radio Bristol's hotseat with John Darvall, answering questions from listeners.

The conversation also covered officer numbers, the early release scheme, concerns around young people wearing balaclavas and the investigation into missing student Jack O'Sullivan.

Read our main takeaways from the show below.

E-scooter trials launched in Bristol and Bath in 2020, making it legal to ride a rental scooter within a designated area. But e-scooters that are not part of the trial cannot legally be ridden on public property.

That means a 15.5 mph rental scooter may be lawful in a trial area, while an almost identical privately-owned scooter is not.

The Chief Constable said the force has seized about 150 e-scooters this year, but would like the law to be clearer to help with enforcement.

She said there is a "lack of understanding" among the public about what is and isn't allowed.

"Every chief constable in the country would want this cleared up," she added.

Crew said she was "acutely aware" that the force is "under-resourced". A recent internal analysis suggested they need 100-200 additional officers to meet demand.

Across the country, the average number of officers is 236 per 100,000 people, and higher in areas with a major city. But in Avon and Somerset, there are 187 officers per 100,000.

"When there's an emergency, things that aren't an immediate or urgent threat to life at that moment back up and get into a queue", she explained, as she apologised to a stalking victim who waited 17 hours for a response.

The Chief Constable also said the early release of prisoners was also adding to pressures on the force, suggesting the cost to her force may be around £4 million per year.

"There is a system failure within our public services," she said.

Crew said police find themselves on the "front line" of dealing with a range of mental health and social care issues.

"If the root cause issues haven't been addressed in custody then they're in our communities," she added.

Many callers wanted to ask what was being done about young people wearing balaclavas on bikes, which was described by one listener as "intimidating".

Police only have the power to ask them to take balaclavas off "in certain circumstances" such as protests where facial coverings have been prohibited and orders have been put in place, Crew explained.

In Nottingham, the city council introduced restrictions, giving officers the power to ask people to remove balaclavas if they "reasonably believe" they are being used to conceal their identity to commit crime or anti-social behaviour.

Crew said her force was committed to dealing with antisocial behaviour but declined to say whether balaclavas should be banned by local councils in the area.

"I didn't know quite the level of concern about balaclavas specifically," she said.

"If we [the police and council] are seeing a problem, we come together, we look to solve that," she added.

The parents of missing student Jack O'Sullivan have said they want his case to be investigated by a different police force.

Crew said the force had already bought in expertise from elsewhere and was continuing to do so.

"We've brought in experts, specialists, we've had peer reviews, help from the National Crime Agency," she said. "Every line of inquiry has been followed."

"There is an investigator and a team at the College of Policing ready to come in and look at aspects of the force's investigation," Crew added.

Crew said: "Everyone has exactly the same aim, and that is to find Jack."

"I can't imagine how it feels to be Jack's parents. We will leave no stone unturned," she added.

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