Young people are 'baiting officers' with dangerous driving, says police federation
The Police Federation of England and Wales' comments come in the wake of a collision in which seven people, including two police officers, were killed.
Young people are “baiting officers” with dangerous driving, the acting Deputy National Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales has told LBC News.
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Paul Williams has warned that criminal groups and young people are using social media to "sensationalise either dangerous driving, dangerous behaviour, sometimes criminal behaviour and baiting our officers out".
He said that officers are already doing a really difficult job protecting the public, but people are trying to goad a reaction for social media.
Mr Williams added: "It's just absolutely unacceptable where social media companies are using this footage to sensationalise, get the clicks, and offer rewards and incentives for people to do more. Now, this is subhuman behaviour. This cannot go on."
His comments come in the wake of the collision in which seven people, including two police officers, were killed.
Read more: Driver killed in car crash following police pursuit in Warwickshire
Police said five young men who died after their vehicle hit a police car on a dual carriageway may have had links to “serious and organised criminal activity”.
Cleveland Police said 12 other people have been arrested over alleged criminality leading up to the collision in Teesside.
Four of the five young men in the car had previous criminal convictions, and were believed to be associated with another car which was seen ramming properties earlier that morning.
Pc Matthew Blades, 37, and Pc Tom Clough, 38, were killed when a Volkswagen Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven the wrong way along a dual carriageway near Middlesbrough and hit their marked armed response vehicle.
The five people travelling in the Volkswagen, Cole Robert Worthy, 17, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and 23-year-olds Michael Robert Cahill and Jacob Matusiak, were pronounced dead at the scene at South Bank, early on Saturday.
The force said it received several reports on the morning of the collision of two vehicles being driven dangerously.
Police said both vehicles were operating with cloned number plates but were picked up by automated number plate recognition technology.
Police said there was no evidence that filming of the activities on Friday night and Saturday morning was “for the purposes of TikTok”.
‘He couldn’t look you in the eye… he’s a coward.’
— LBC (@LBC) August 25, 2026
Caller Paula, whose son was killed by a speeding car, warns @BenKentish not to mistake ‘criminality’ for a ‘TikTok trend’. pic.twitter.com/sRuS8W3deT
Elsewhere, officers from North Wales Police successfully stopped a vehicle travelling on the wrong side of the A55 yesterday evening on Anglesey.
Officers who encountered the vehicle were travelling on the correct side of the road and were able to safely bring it to a stop.
One man has been arrested in connection with the incident and remains in police custody while enquiries continue.
The A55 was temporarily closed while officers dealt with the incident and ensured the road was safe to reopen.
Prior to the vehicle entering the A55 a person was knocked off a bicycle on London Road in Holyhead, sustaining non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital. Several parked vehicles were also damaged.
A separate incident on Monday left one man dead after the vehicle he was travelling in was involved in a crash following a police pursuit in Warwickshire.
The incident saw officers attempt to stop a black Audi near Stratford around 5.23pm on Monday, the force said.
The vehicle is then understood to have collided with another car, a white Ford Puma, less than 20 minutes later at 5.44pm.
"The male driver of the Audi was sadly pronounced deceased at the scene by paramedics," Warwickshire Police confirmed in a statement.
The driver of the Ford was taken to hospital, where she remains in critical condition.