By David Young-
The Police must be do more to prevent ‘avoidable deaths’ in police custody, says report
Police forces, police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and health partners must do more to prevent “avoidable deaths” at the point of arrest, during and after custody, a new report has said.
While many forces have “forged partnerships with allied health and justice services” to prevent deaths, “practice is not uniform across England and Wales”, according to the Independent Advisory Panel on Deaths in Custody (IAPDC)
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The police force is looking to address the levels of death in custody.
There were 11 deaths in or following police custody in 2021/22, a decrease of eight from the previous year, as well as 56 apparent suicides following release from police custody, one more than the previous year.
In 2021/22, three people died in a police cell, a continuation of a long-term reduction since the 1990s from earlier years, said the report.
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A high proportion of deaths that occur in police custody, during or following police contact, involve people who are experiencing mental health and and/or substance misuse issues. In 2021/22, six of the 11 people who died were identified as having mental health conditions and nine were known to have links to alcohol and/or drugs.
“Both factors are also prevalent among the 109 people who died in 2021/22 after some form of contact with the police,” the report said.
“It is important to note that the category of ‘other deaths following police contact’ includes concerning examples of police contact deaths but whose classification remain opaque, as do what themes and learning are drawn from it.”
The latest report by the IAPDC for the first time brings together a wide range of policing practice across England and Wales to prevent deaths and makes a series of recommendations for police, healthcare and other bodies.
As policing priorities are being “re-examined”, the report illustrates a range of initiatives identified by police themselves to prevent deaths at the point of arrest, during, or after custody.
“Many forces have forged partnerships with allied health and justice services to play to professional strengths, reducing inappropriate use of police time and serving to prevent deaths in custody,” said the report.
“But practice is not uniform across England and Wales, with limited evidence that forces are sharing findings after a death or involving bereaved families in driving change.
“More should be done to ensure practice is evaluated and shared, and there should be greater focus on ensuring health partners are first-responders to those in mental health crisis, not police.
“There remains a concerning number of apparent suicides following release, consistently greater than the number of deaths within custody itself. Despite this, there is limited evidence of police and healthcare partnerships to provide effective aftercare for people vulnerable after release.”
The report forms part of a joint police leadership initiative with the Home Office, initially led by former Policing Minister Kit Malthouse, to drive forward the Government’s zero-tolerance approach to police custody deaths. PCCs and associated organisations were asked to share examples of good practice across three priority areas, of which the report makes a series of recommendations, including:
Mental health and risk – There should be greater collaboration across agencies, particularly healthcare, to support the mental health of people in crisis.
Apparent post-custody suicides – Individual forces, with local services, should explore options to support vulnerable people on release, particularly those at risk of suicide; and
Embedding learning after a death or near miss – More must be done to share and embed learning promptly and across boundaries, particularly by learning from bereaved families, the Home Office, coroners and investigatory bodies.
Juliet Lyon, chair of the IAPDC, said: “Avoidable deaths are just that: ‘avoidable’. Every death in police custody is a tragedy.
“It’s clear from the submissions we received that good leadership, a structured approach, strong partnerships with health and ambulance services, and a preparedness to learn from tragedy and the experience of bereaved families can prevent future deaths.
“We will continue working with ministers, PCCs and police chiefs to ensure that good practice is better shared and a zero-tolerance approach to deaths in custody is developed and maintained.”
The IAPDC report makes a total of 25 recommendations.
Among these is a need for PCCs to “scrutinise the use of adequate risk assessment procedures and protocols on safeguarding for suicide prevention, drug and alcohol misuse”.
Mental health and neurodivergent awareness training should also be made available for police officers, while individual forces should work with liaison and diversion services, local health providers and community and voluntary sector organisations to explore options for support available on release for any person identified as at risk of self-inflicted death.
In addition:
Individual forces should consider how data on apparent post-custody suicides can be improved;
Forces should evaluate and apply interventions to support the reduction of post- custody suicides, with learning and good practice shared with police in other geographical areas.
Forces, together with the College of Policing, should identify and share the mechanisms they use for acting on learning after a death.
The College of Policing should ensure that training for custody officers and its Authorised Professional Practice (APP) for custody is regularly reviewed and kept up to date, having considered any learning and recommendations following custody deaths, and circulate it to staff consistently across all forces; and
Individual forces, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the College of Policing, and any other relevant parties to an incident relating to a death should take steps to ensure emerging learning from deaths is shared as a priority following an incident.
The report also highlights the “important leadership role” of PCCs in the prevention of deaths in custody, in particular the need for them to lead local scrutiny panels and expand their focus to include the examination of data relating to custody performance.
Association of Police and Crime Commissioners mental health and custody lead, PCC Emily Spurrell, said: “I welcome the IAPDC report and its important emphasis on making custody suites safer.
“Nobody should die in police custody and although in recent years we have witnessed a decline in these devastating incidences, the IAPDC’s report sets out helpful recommendations and identifies good practice, including examples of PCC-led activities, to help achieve zero deaths in custody.
“I will now work with colleagues to promote the IAPDC’s recommendations, focusing on increasing consistency, collaboration with health partners and sharing of good practice. I will also support the national focus on reducing deaths in custody by seeking to work with the Ministerial Board on Deaths in Custody.”
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