Police and crime commissioner’s ideas centre on making suspects and offenders literally pay for their behaviour

Suspects could be made to pay police a fee for an overnight stay in the cells – and civil claims could also be pursued against those who injure officers and cause them to take time off, a police and crime commissioner has said.

The PCC for Hertfordshire, David Lloyd (pictured), outlined some of the proposals in his draft Police and Crime Plan – which is currently being consulted on.

He said suspects could pay for the “hotel bill” of staying in the cells if deemed appropriate.

Chief Executive for Mr Lloyd’s office, Andrew White, said his team were currently examining what the “trigger” would be to ensure a fee was eventually paid – with a criminal conviction being the most likely and legally assured.

However, he added that in some cases it might not be necessary.

He said: “There may be other areas where convictions are not the end result where we can still feel justified in charging a fee and the law justifies us in doing that.”

Mr White said the PCC’s office was taking legal advice and deciding which of the proposals could be introduced immediately or which required legal checks or legislative change.

He added that some measures could be treated in the same way as civil recovery schemes – used by the likes of supermarkets to obtain penalties from shoplifters.

Additionally, Mr Lloyd is also proposing in the draft plan to take legal action against people who injure officers while on duty – as this can be deemed a financial loss to the police force itself.

Mr White said: “It would be to seek compensation – a civil claim against people who cause personal injury.

“We are saying there is an organisational loss (as a result of an officer being injured).

“This would be a civil claim by the PCC and not an attempt to replace personal injury claims.”