A SUFFOLK police officer who posted a video on the internet of his colleague driving a police car at high speeds on the A14 has been branded “irresponsible” by road safety campaigners.

A SUFFOLK police officer who posted a video on the internet of his colleague driving a police car at high speeds on the A14 has been branded “irresponsible” by road safety campaigners.

The three minute video posted on popular website YouTube has been criticised by road safety charity Brake, which has accused the officer of glamorising speeding.

Suffolk police has confirmed it was investigating the footage and has referred the incident to the Professional Standards department. A spokesman for the force said they were “extremely disappointed” by the officer's decision to post it on the internet.

The police officer, whose user name is Boerenlol, films the road ahead as his colleague drives at high speeds in response to an emergency call. The sirens of the car are clearly audible as it overtakes traffic on the A14 westbound from the Orwell Bridge to Claydon.

The police officer also films the speedometer to show the high speed the car is travelling at.

In February 18-year-old Danny Hyde, from Stowmarket, was given a suspended jail term after he filmed himself driving at speeds up to 120mph on the same stretch of road and posted the video on YouTube.

On the same day Hyde was sentenced, and banned from driving for 18 months, police chiefs from across the country called for sites like YouTube to ban home made videos of people speeding.

Road safety charity Brake has slammed the video, which was filmed last summer, and said Suffolk police should look very hard at the officer's actions.

A spokesman said:“It is irresponsible for a police officer to post footage such as this on a website when the aim seems to be to glamorise speeding, a crime which police officers are supposed to be there to enforce.

“The fact that it is a police officer who has apparently filmed and posted these clips is damaging to the force's reputation and undermines the very good work that the majority of police men and women do. It sends out the message that it's okay to speed, which is clearly not the case.”

The charity said that while the officer driving was not breaking the law because he was responding to an emergency, the video sends out a “damaging message”.

A Suffolk police spokesman said: “Suffolk Constabulary is aware of this video and it has been referred to the Professional Standards department. An investigation is underway and clearly we are extremely disappointed that an officer has chosen to post this footage on the internet.

He added: “The officer filming is a passenger in the car and there appears to be no road traffic offences committed. However, this action sends out the wrong message and is at odds with the road safety advice we issue to the public.”

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