Deaths in police custody

Report: 9
Date: 20 September 2001
By: Commissioner

Consultation, Diversity and Outreach Committee - 20 September 2001
Professional Standards & Performance Monitoring Committee - 11 October 2001

Summary

This report outlines how the MPS responds to, and investigates, deaths in police custody and discusses related issues such as suspension of police officers and the impact of such deaths on the person's family and community.

A. Recommendation

Members are asked to note the content of this report.

B. Supporting information

Definition of a death in police custody

1. There are two defined categories of this by the Home Office and these are attached at Appendix 1.

Current MPS response to deaths or potential deaths in police custody

2. All deaths or potential deaths in Police Custody are clearly identified as being critical incidents. The definition of a critical incident being:

• Any incident where the effectiveness of the police response is likely to have a significant impact on the confidence of:
  • the victim;
  • their family; and/or
  • the community.

3. The Internal Investigation Group from the MPS Department of Professional Standards is responsible for investigating such critical incidents.

The Internal Investigation Group

4. The Internal Investigations Command is led by a Detective Superintendent with four investigation teams, each consisting of: 1 Detective Inspector; 5 Detective Sergeants; and 5 Detective Constables.

5. Each investigation is led by one of the three Detective Chief Inspectors who perform the role of Senior Investigating Officer. The unit has a pan-London responsibility and 24-hour on-call capability to respond to any death or potential death in police custody. The investigation teams are fully trained and resourced to respond to those incidents with the highest levels of professionalism, ability and compassion:

• There is a minimum of 2 fully trained Family Liaison Officers on each team. These Family Liaison Officers are co-ordinated by our own FLO co-ordinator with an oversight by the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force.
• All officers on the Group of Inspector rank and above have attended the National Senior Investigating Officers course.
• Officers have attended the various levels of Critical Incident training from level 1 for all officers to level 3 for Senior Investigating and ACPO officers.

6. The Internal Investigation Group has its own procedure manual for these unique investigations that is based on the model used in homicide and un-explained death investigations. The manual ensures a consistent and professional response is given to these investigations. It also distils good practice and lessons learnt from past investigations whilst also linking to national police policies such as the ACPO Manual of Guidance on Police use of Firearms.

Police Complaints Authority

7. When responding to a Critical Incident, of which a death in custody is likely to be, the Senior Investigating Officer from the Internal Investigations Group will contact the appropriate member of the Police Complaints Authority. If a public complaint is made in regard to such incident, the investigation becomes a mandatory referral for supervision by the Police Complaints Authority. It is, however, the policy of the Metropolitan Police Service to voluntarily refer all such investigations to the PCA under Section 71 of Police Act 1996. The Police Complaints Authority is an independent body set up under statute to enhance public confidence in the system for investigating complaints against the police. It has two principle roles:

• to supervise police investigations into complaints alleging serious misconduct or incidents of public concern, and
• at the conclusion of all investigations to undertake an independent review of the evidence to determine whether any police officer should have his or her conduct referred to a misconduct hearing.

Decision making processes

The Senior Investigating Officer at the conclusion of the investigation will submit their report to the Director of the Department of Professional Standards. The report will then be submitted to the Coroner, Crown Prosecution Service and the Police Complaints Authority who will issue an interim certificate of satisfaction with the investigation. The Crown Prosecution Service then considers the case prior to the inquest. If no criminal proceedings are instigated at that time then the Coroners Inquest will take place. At the conclusion of the Inquest, the Crown Prosecution Service will consider the case further and then make a final decision in regard to whether any criminal matters should be addressed.

Once the CPS has reached their conclusions, the Police Complaints Authority review the investigation and make recommendations. The PCA inform the relatives and the police of their decisions in relation to the incident.

10. The Metropolitan Police Service ensures the relatives of the deceased are kept updated with the progress of the investigation and supplies relevant documents, copies of witness statements, etc as directed by the coroner prior to the inquest.

Particular deaths, which may have an impact on the person’s family or community

11. If the Metropolitan Police Service is to secure the confidence of the communities it serves, it must ensure the response to Critical Incidents is appropriate and effective. The Internal Investigation Group has developed a range of strategies to build and maintain the trust of individuals, families and communities. Key to this is early contact with the Racial and Violent Task Force who are able to identify suitable independent advisors. In many cases, oversight of the incident is managed through a 'Gold Group' including members of the investigation team, local and senior officers and appropriate local independent advisors.

12. On occasion, the Metropolitan Police Service or Police Complaints Authority recognise the need for a higher degree of independence in particularly sensitive enquiries and can request an outside Police Service to take over the investigation. The independence of the Internal Investigation Group within the MPS and recognised advances made by the Service in addressing Critical Incidents, have reduced the number of investigations that have been referred to other forces to investigate. That said, referral to an outside force is always an option when the circumstances give rise to community concerns, or where there are other reasons why this course of action may be appropriate.

Suspension policy in relation to deaths in police custody

13. The Director of Professional Standards will consider suspending from duty any officer involved in a death in police custody whilst the matter is fully investigated. The impact of whether to suspend or not is likely to have wide reaching implications for the individual officer, the MPS and the public. The decision is carefully considered by the Director based on the available evidence and with due consideration to other relevant factors which would include any concerns for the community. The decision to suspend is subject to monthly review by the Director, although fresh evidence from the investigation can initiate a review at any time.

14. Options other than removing an officer from duty can also be considered. Each case is considered on its merits, but removing an officer from normal operational duty is one alternative to a full suspension.

15. In the cases of fatal police shootings or fatal accidents involving police vehicles, MPS policy is that officers are automatically removed from operational firearms or driving duties during the investigation.

Learning the lessons from deaths in police custody

16. The impact of a death in police custody on the relatives of the deceased, the police officers involved and the community cannot be adequately expressed in the pages of a report. The Metropolitan Police Service has moved forward in the way it deals with Critical Incidents, but is not complacent. The MPS is taking proactive action to reduce the number of deaths in police custody. One death in the care of police will always be one too many. Some of the initiatives to implement lessons learned from the tragedy of deaths in police custody are outlined below:

• Police officers have been made more aware of some of the conditions, which may lead to erratic behaviour. Training has been amended to enable officers to recognise and deal with the early warning signs that may be precursors to serious medical conditions.
• The video ‘Preventing Deaths In Custody’ has been produced by the MPS and circulated to all officers. The video has attracted interest from Police Services around the country.
• A project introducing medically trained nurses into custody suites is currently being piloted at Charing Cross police station.
• At the conclusion of all investigations into deaths in custody, recommendations are made, where appropriate, to prevent such tragedies occurring again. Only recently, cell lighting design was altered following a flaw identified during the investigation into the tragic hanging by a detainee.

17. The success of this work has seen the numbers of recorded deaths in police custody fall in recent years, as shown below in the graph and table.

C. Financial implications

There are no direct financial implications associated with the contents of this report.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Julian McKinney, Acting Detective Chief Inspector, Internal Investigation Group, Metropolitan Police Service, 020 8785 8119

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

Appendix 1: Home Office definitions of death in police custody

Category A

Where the deceased is in police detention as defined by section 118 (2) of PACE 1984. That is, for the purpose of the act:

• he has been taken to a police station after being arrested for an offence, or
• he is arrested at a police station after attending voluntarily at the station or accompanying a Constable to it,

and is detained there or is detained elsewhere in the charge of a constable, except that a person who is at a court after being charged is not in police detention for those purposes.

This category also encompasses deaths of those under arrest who are held in temporary police accommodation or have been taken to hospital following arrest. It also includes those who die, following arrest, whilst in a police vehicle.

Category B

Where the deceased was otherwise in the hands of the police or death resulted from the actions of a police officer in the purported execution of his duty.

This category includes, for example, deaths that occur:

• when suspects are being interviewed by the police but have not been detained;
• when persons are actively attempting to evade arrest;
• when persons are stopped and searched or questioned by the police;
• when persons are in police vehicles (other than whilst in police detention);
• when persons are in police custody having been arrested by officers from a police force in Scotland exercising their powers of detention under section 137(2) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994;
• when persons are in police custody having been arrested under section 3(5) of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993;
• when persons are in police custody having been served a notice advising them of their detention under powers contained in the Immigration Act 1971;
• when persons are convicted or remanded prisoners held in police cells on behalf of the Prison Service under the Imprisonment (Temporary Provisions) Act 1980;
• when there is a siege or ambush;
• when persons are in the care of the police having been detained under the Mental Health Act;
• when children or young persons are in police detention under the Children Act 1989.

The two categories of deaths are designed to distinguish between deaths which occur when a person is detained by the Police and those which occur otherwise within the hands of the police.

The categories of death to be reported exclude:

• Those attending police stations as innocent visitors or witnesses who are not suspects and whose attendance is unconnected with their arrest.
• Those who have left a police station, whether freely or on bail (except when taken to hospital).
• Those involved in a fatal road traffic accident involving the police, and
• Those, which occur in a police vehicle that is being used as an ambulance to transport a dying person to hospital quickly but not under circumstances as described under category A.

These lists of examples are not exhaustive.

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