Dear Ms Hassell,

Prevention of future deaths - Lewis Dean Johnson

I would like to start by expressing my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Lewis Dean Johnson. Our thoughts and sympathies are very much with them.

On behalf of the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, I write to provide the response to the matters of concern addressed to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) in your Report to Prevent Future Deaths dated 23rd May 2025 following the inquest into the tragic death of Mr Lewis Dean Johnson.

The MPS has acknowledged and reviewed all the matters of concern raised in your Regulation 28 Report and responds as follows:

The Coroner’s “Matters of Concern”

1. You will see from the attached narrative that the jury concluded there was a failure by MPS to implement, disseminate and train relevant staff on relevant policies effectively.

2. Although the jury did not comment on this specifically, it seemed to me from the evidence in court that there was not a consistent expectation among police officers of how long it generally takes a police controller to make a decision on authorisation of a pursuit.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner New Scotland Yard Victoria Embankment London SW1A 2JL Email. NSN.

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Whilst I do not suggest there should be a time limit on this, it would seem helpful if the expectation of the timing of police control decision making were to be roughly aligned between those making the decisions (in the police control room) and those waiting for the decisions (in police cars involved in the pursuits).

MPS Response to “Matter of Concern 1”

Police Driving Policy Ownership

The MPS Driving Policy is owned by the Roads and Transport Policing Command (RTPC) and incorporates the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance. Any updates to driving related policies are managed and disseminated by the Police Driving Standards and Policy Unit (PDSU) that sits within RTPC.

The MPS has approximately 10,000 authorised police drivers/riders ranging from Basic to Tactical Pursuit and Containment (TPaC) trained who are managed by the PDSU with the support of a Safer Driver Manager (SDM) network. Every Operational Command Unit (OCU) and Basic Command Unit (BCU) in the MPS has a SDM who is a senior officer of at least the rank of Inspector and are responsible for the police drivers within their command. A SDM may appoint a nominated officer to manage the day-to-day responsibilities of the SDM.

Process in 2016

In 2016, the MPS’s standard practice was to update police officers and staff of policy related changes/requirement via an ‘Operational Notice’. This consisted of a ‘news’ item posted to the MPS wide intranet home page highlighting the change to relevant policy, who it affects, and the actions required by each officer. The policy to pursue motorbikes/mopeds was changed nine days prior to this incident in 2016, during a pandemic of moped enabled phone robberies across London.

Current Process

Since this incident in 2016, the RTPC PDSU has reviewed the way critical policy updates are disseminated with the aim of reducing the risk of policy updates being missed. As such, the RTPC PDSU continues to publish Operational Notices on the MPS intranet, which is then reinforced with the update being disseminated throughout the Safer Driver Manager (SDM) network. The SDM’s will then share these updates with the drivers in their command by email requesting an acknowledgement response.

The MPS has provided updated training packages to staff within the Metropolitan Police’s Command and Control Command (MetCC), whose responsibility includes the management of the Pan London MPS Pursuit radio channel. Changes to training have been made to enable faster recognition and termination of pursuits, where appropriate. Specifically, within the Supervisor of Incident (SI) role (within the control room), the direction is that the SI will take control of the channel directly to terminate pursuits if deemed necessary, whereas previously the direction to terminate was given to the channel operator with supporting rationale. The channel operator would then direct the pursuit to terminate.

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Likewise, Pursuit Tactical Advisors (TacAd) situated inside the pan London control room are being directed to take control of the channel where appropriate to ensure essential information is provided at the earliest opportunity. Furthermore, the TacAd supervisor role is part of the PDSU and is located within MetCC alongside the MPS Pursuit desk, ensuring a continual, real-time line of communication and updates surrounding the policy.

Timelines for Dissemination

Whilst at times, the decision to change policy is held within the MPS, which allows for prior planning for the education of policy updates, this is not always the case. The MPS, as with other police forces, are guided by APP. At times, these updates can be dynamic due to learning within other forces and as such there can be a delay in communication to MPS officers and staff in order to determine the best manner to educate or train them. Where the MPS has guided an internal policy change, or the College of Policing has provided a timeline of APP updates, the PDSU will disseminate this information within 24 hours of being notified. Where further work is required to update officers and staff of the changes, the PDSU will assess the risk and ensure that timelines for implementation are proportionate to that risk.

MPS Driver Standards Improvement Plan

To address identified risks associated with serious and / or fatal police driving incidents / collisions, a Police Driver Improvement Plan was created in 2024. The plan sets out how the MPS intends to reduce police collisions, utilising driver training, enhanced data and governance frameworks to manage risk, progress milestones and hold key partners to account.

The plan will be achieved through the Driver Training and Standards governance framework, that is chaired by the Commander of Uniformed Operations, and led through a collaborative approach between RTPC, MetCC, Learning & Development, Met Prosecutions, Fleet Services, Directorate of Professional Standards, and the Directorate of Legal Services.

The project began in April 2025 with a wholesale review the existing MPS driving Policy, taking every opportunity to align to national APP standards.

The plan will be delivered across 2025/26 which covers four key pillars:

• Standards and Governance
• Culture and Development
• Technology, Data and Insight
• Collaboration

In addition to the current process, as part of the Police Driver Standards Improvement Plan, the RTPC PDSU has numerous ongoing digital driving and system projects in production, specifically the MPS is scoping the introduction of a Digital Driving Permit (the initial phase due for completion by the end of July 2025, Digital Logbooks, a Chronical Systems Project,

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in car dash cams technology / solutions and ongoing collaboration work with the MPS Strategic Insights Unit.

The aim of the Digital Driving Permit is to significantly improve the management of police drivers, as this will enable the driver’s permit to be ‘locked’ where necessary, by the PDSU preventing them from booking out a police vehicle and driving it. This same process will be utilised for future driving policy updates whereby a notification can be sent to the drivers permit, which will need to be acknowledged before the driver has the ability to book out a vehicle. This will provide a digital record confirming that the driver has received a notification of a change of policy, which is in addition to notification via MPS notices and disseminations via SDM network.

The Chronicle is the MPS Collision reporting system for police drivers. This will be able to distinguish between police driver collision types, and specifics surrounding what type of hazard has been engaged, thus allowing junctions and hazards to be reported on. There is also now a pin drop function that will provide accurate location data which has been facilitated by DDaT. This is estimated to be completed in the second quarter of 2025.

The PDSU are in the early stages of exploring in-car dash cam solutions for the MPS fleet. This solution will allow Pursuit Managers (SI’s) situated in MetCC to view pursuits.

MPS Strategic Insights Unit (SIU)

RTPC PDSU are working closely with the MPS Strategic Insight Unit (SIU) to provide an overview and gain a deeper understanding of the dangers associated with potential high risk driving behaviours, and how these can be reduced/mitigated as part of the Police Driver Improvement Plan. In addition, work is ongoing as to whether the SIU could utilise data that is already held, specifically around whether any increase in serious injury or police fatal collisions are significant in terms of demand.

MPS Response to “Matter of Concern 2”

Police Controllers and Authorisation of a Pursuit

The Pan London Training Course was delivered by L&D up until 2018, when the responsibility of training staff with this skill was passed to MetCC. MetCC has its own Academy, responsible for delivering training in First Contact (FC), answering 999 and 101 calls, and Despatch. They are also responsible for training control room staff, responding and co-ordinating with officers working on the Basic Command Unit’s radio communication.

There is also another dedicated team within the Academy who are responsible for delivering all Pan London training. To be permitted to undertake the Pan London course, staff must be competent in the FC and Despatch arenas and be recommended by their supervisors. This is the same for operators who are at the rank of Police Constable or Police Staff equivalent grading and supervisors who are the rank of Sergeant or Police Staff equivalent grading.

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Since MetCC have taken ownership of the Pan London training, the course has been changed from four weeks to three weeks. The first two weeks teaches staff how to work in all areas of Pan London, with the third week being dedicated to pursuit management within the control room - the Pan London Training Team (PLTT). The staff are given an electronic copy of the MPS Pursuit Policy with their joining instructions prior to the course.

On the first day of pursuit week, staff are given a 20-question knowledge check to test where their knowledge is, which helps to identify any significant areas of development they need to focus on. The rest of the first day is solely focussed on explaining the MPS Pursuit Policy, which is supported by a power point presentation to aid learning.

The following three days engages staff in practical, immersive pursuit training.

It was identified that officers who were not a minimum classification of a Response driver, received very limited training on pursuit commentary. In response, the PLTT therefore introduced a Pursuit Commentary course to the MPS, available for all officers to attend. This was done in conjunction with the Pursuit Tactical Advisor Sergeant and the MPS Driving School.

On the second day of pursuit week, Pan London operators and officers have a 60-minute presentation with supporting power point of what is required of them during a pursuit in line with the CoP. There is a visual display of all the necessary pursuit criteria in the National Decision Model (NDM) needed for a pursuit to be authorised. The presentation refers to the Pursuit Commentary Bullet Point Checklist below:

• Introduce the call and wait.
• Inform MP what you are pursing (Car/Bike/Van), where you are and direction?
• What is the Police Driver classification/IPP/Re-enforced stop?
• Which type of Police vehicle and is it marked or unmarked?
• Why are you pursuing (what is the offence?)
• What is the speed, road/weather/traffic conditions/pedestrians?
• What is the drivers risk assessment low/medium/high?

The presentation further details what officer’s transmissions would look like in practice. It then refers to ‘Painting the Picture,’ where officers are provided with some examples of key phrases they may wish to use to assist with commentary. The presentation includes articulating essential information that is needed, a table of risks with examples, pre-emptive tactics and a list of the units that should routinely be monitoring the PMPS Intop Channels.

The following is a description about how the training is delivered to operators and supervisors:

The operators assume their role as the MetCC pursuit operator, whilst the officers watch pursuit footage taken from a Police vehicle and give commentary to the Pan London trainees. Both the Pan London students and officers have training staff with them to provide guidance on how pursuits should be managed. This collective approach to training ensures

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that the officers and Pan London staff each know what questions and in what order they are going to be given and allow the pursuit criteria information to be given in a timely manner.

The course is run in a similar way for the Pan London supervisors, but the supervisors will perform their role and make decisions on whether to authorise or terminate the pursuits, based on the information they are given.

On the final day of the course, both supervisors and operators will take a 20-question written exam. If they have been unsuccessful, an opportunity to retake the exam is afforded. On successfully passing the exam students will then take a practical exam where they undertake their trained role, whether supervisor or operator, and take part in an assessment similar to the practical training described earlier. This is assessed by the PLTT, with stringent criteria. The Pan London supervisors will listen as they would in a live pursuit and give their directions authorising / terminating accordingly to operators. Students will need to show they have an excellent knowledge of the Pursuit Policy to be able to be successful. If a pass is not achieved on this occasion, then staff would not be permitted to work within the Pan London arena and be given an action plan to return at a later date to re-take the course.

We cannot align a time limit as to how quickly this information is obtained, as each pursuit is different in what the pursuing vehicle is presented with. However, with both MetCC staff and pursuing officers knowing what questions are going to be asked and in what order, it allows the answers to be promptly given and allows the SI to make decisions in a timelier manner. Although each pursuit would need to be reviewed on its own merits, on a case-by- case basis, the aim is to authorise a pursuit as soon as practicable once relevant information has been obtained.

I hope this response shows the level of transformative change the MPS has undertaken in the time since this tragic incident that gave rise to your matters of concern. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any additional information or clarification regarding the above.