Police officers who attend a scene of danger (such as a loose building fixture) but do not take physical control of the site, do not engage in any positive act creating or increasing risk, and do not assume responsibility towards a specific individual, do not owe a duty of care to members of the public who are injured at the scene. The mere fact that police attend in performance of their public duty to protect persons from injury does not give rise to a private law duty of care. Separately, even where a duty of care is assumed, the standard of breach requires consideration of what courses of action were reasonably open to the defendant, including competing responsibilities and the very short timeframe available for response. The reasoning in Ticehurst v Skeen (1986) regarding police duty of care to road users is disapproved.
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