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Statistics and text compiled and edited by:
Paul Douglas
Clayeon McKenzie
Angela Underhill
Powers & Procedures Section
Operational Policing Policy Unit (OPPU)
Home Office
Any inquiries about the contents of this publication
should be made to: Powers & Procedures
Section
O P P U
Home Office
Room 535
50 Queen Anne's Gate
LONDON SW1H 9AT
( 020 7 273 3463 / 3890 [Fax: 020 7 273 2703]
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Between 1 April 1997 and 31 March 1998, 69 people died in police
custody or otherwise in the hands of the police (note
1), an increase of 21% on the previous year. Verdicts have been
given for 48 of the 69 deaths and these are as follows
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22 cases of accidental death;
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8 cases of suicide;
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7 cases of misadventure;
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4 cases of death by natural causes;
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3 open verdicts;
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3 cases where no inquest was held;
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1 death due to cocaine-poisoning; and,
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21 verdicts are awaited.
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Table I  (64.4Kb)
gives a more detailed breakdown of the individual circumstances of
all 69 cases.
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Since 1 April 1996, police forces have been required to record the
ethnic origin of all those who die in police custody. Table II gives
a breakdown of the ethnic origin. Between 1 April 1997 and 31 March
1998, there were 8 deaths (12%) of persons from ethnic minorities:
four Asian, three Black and one Other.
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Of the total number of deaths, 11 occurred within police stations. Table III gives
a breakdown by police force area of the place of death.
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Of the 69 deaths in police custody, 43 were in police custody as
defined in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (category A) (note
2) and 26 were otherwise in the hands of the police or death
resulted from the actions of a police officer in the purported execution
of his duty (category B).
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Table IV (10.6Kb)
gives a breakdown by the result of the inquest and the cause of death.
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Table V (27.3Kb)gives
details of the 28 inquests from 1 April 1996 to 31 March 1997 which
were outstanding in the previous bulletin. The results were as follows:
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6 cases of accidental death;
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4 cases of death by natural causes;
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3 cases where no inquest was held due to criminal proceedings;
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2 cases of suicide;
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2 open verdicts;
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2 cases of death from drug abuse;
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1 case of lawful killing; and,
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8 verdicts still awaited.
NOTES
1 Deaths in police custody or otherwise at the hands
of the police must be reported to the Home Office, Operational Policing
Policy Unit (OPPU) within 48 hours of the death. Forces are also required
to report the outcome of any Coroner's inquest into a death. OPPU
maintains a continuous record of all reported deaths and seek confirmation
of the details and circumstances of each death with the force concerned
prior to publication.
2 The definition of a death in police custody was revised
on 5 February 1996 in order to clarify it and to distinguish between
deaths of those detained in a police station -as defined in the
Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (category A), and those otherwise
in the hands of the police.
Category A is defined as:
Where the deceased is in police detention as defined by Section
118 (2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. That is,
for the purposes of the Act, if -
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he has been taken to a police station after being arrested for
an offence; or,
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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 and those who have been taken
to hospital following arrest. It also includes those who die, following
arrest, whilst in a police vehicle.
Category B is defined as:
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 which
occur:
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when suspects are being interviewed by the police but have not
been detained;
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when persons are actively attempting to evade arrest;
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when persons are stopped and searched or questioned by the police;
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when persons are in police vehicles (other than whilst in police
detention);
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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;
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when persons are in police custody having been arrested under
section 3(5) of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993;
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when persons are in police custody having been served a notice
advising them of their detention under powers contained in the
Immigration Act 1971;
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when persons are convicted or remanded prisoners held in police
cells on behalf of the Prison Service under the Imprisonment (Temporary
Provisions) Act 1980;
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when there is a siege situation or ambush;
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when persons are in the care of the police having been detained
under the Mental Health Act; and,
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when children or young persons are in police protection 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:
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those attending police stations as innocent visitors or witnesses
who are not suspects;
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those who have left a police station, whether freely or on bail
(except when taken to hospital (see Category A);
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those involved in a fatal road accident involving the police;
and,
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those which occur in a police vehicle which 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. |
