# The Police (Complaints and Misconduct) Regulations 2020, Regulation 18: Special procedure: police friend

Extent: E+W

(1) This regulation applies where the person investigating a complaint or matter has given the person concerned a notification under regulation 17 (special procedure: notification of severity assessment etc.).
(2) The person concerned may choose—
(a) a member of a police force;
(b) a special constable;
(c) a police staff member, or
(d) where the person concerned is a member of a police force or a special constable, a person nominated by the person’s staff association,
who is not otherwise involved in the matter to act as the person’s police friend.
(3) A police friend may—
(a) advise the person concerned throughout proceedings under these Regulations;
(b) provide any relevant statement or relevant document to the person investigating;
(c) accompany the person concerned to any interview of that person conducted by the person investigating, and
(d) make representations to the Director General concerning any aspect of the proceedings under these Regulations.
(4) Where a police friend is a member of a police force, a special constable or a police staff member, the chief officer of the force of which the police friend is a member must permit the police friend to use a reasonable amount of duty time for the purposes mentioned in paragraph (3).
(5) The reference in paragraph (4) to the force of which the police friend is a member includes a reference to the force maintained for the police area for which a special constable is appointed and the force in which a police staff member is serving.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/2/regulation/18 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/police-complaints-and-misconduct-regulations-2020/regulation-18
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.