This applies to many public officials. The standards are different because the law has to take into account the bigger picture.
Of course, they can’t escape negligence claims entirely. The rest of this article will be spent highlighting several cases with different results.
Duty of care is mentioned below. It is “a requirement that a person act toward others and the public with the watchfulness, attention, caution and prudence that a reasonable person in the circumstances would use.”
When you have a role such as a parent, doctor, police officer, or caretaker, your duty of care changes accordingly.
Osman v Ferguson (1993): Police Failed to Apprehend the Criminal
TLDR: A teacher had an unhealthy attachment to a student (even going as far as harassing and following the boy). When the police confronted the teacher, he admitted that he might do something criminally insane if he wasn’t stopped. The police did nothing, and eventually, the teacher shot at the boy and his father. His father died.
Held: To say the police were negligent would lead to unintended consequences – such as people seeking negligence claims for accidents like an officer tripping while chasing a criminal. That would divert lots of time and resources to prepare for a trial rather than suppress crime.
Also, there’s a precedent, Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (1988), that the police didn’t owe the public a duty of care to detect crime.
Reeves v Commissioner of Police (1999): Prisoner Dies
TLDR: A man, known to be a suicide risk, was in police custody. He commits suicide and dies.
Held: Since the man was in custody, the police owed him a duty of care. However, the man intentionally caused the act to himself (contributory negligence), so the damages were reduced by 50%.
Marshall v Osmond (1983): Error of Judgement
TLDR: A man in a stolen car tried to resist arrest while being pursued by the police. The police car hit the stolen car and he was injured.
Held: The police officer who drove made an error of judgement, but he was not negligent.
All the precedents regarding the care owed by police officers are quite the rabbit hole to go down! If you like this post format, check out this post about bosses being liable for employee screwups.