Police tradition beneath the highlight. by way of shutterstock.com
With a purpose to forestall future deaths and severe incidents in police custody in Britain, a elementary change is required within the tradition and coaching of the police. That’s the discovering of a long-awaited unbiased evaluation into the difficulty by the Scottish lawyer Elish Angiolini that was lastly made public on October 30.
The Angiolini evaluation stresses that the police want to maneuver from a tradition of regulation enforcement to care, significantly in relation to weak people, resembling these with psychological well being or substance dependency points. She argues that the shift needs to be pushed by an elevated concentrate on human rights all through the availability of public providers within the UK.
Within the felony justice system this has been significantly evident by means of the applying of Article 2 of the European Conference on Human Rights – the precise to life.
My very own analysis reveals that Article 2 imposes an obligation on the state to show that it allows the precise to life of people in custody. That features taking all cheap measures to make sure that people are handled with care. This isn’t all the time the case, and avoidable deaths happen in consequence.
Who’s dying in police custody
The Angiolini evaluation was commissioned in July 2015 by Theresa Might, when she was dwelling secretary. In March of that yr, Might met the households of Sean Rigg and Olaseni Lewis, who died after police contact.
Each males have been black, and had skilled psychological well being crises. Juries in coroners’ courts discovered police used extreme and pointless pressure which performed an element of their deaths. The verdicts in each the Rigg and Lewis instances have been vital of the dearth of care proven to each males.
Might has been a vocal and protracted critic of the police, particularly concerning perceived discrimination towards black and minority ethnic communities by police practices resembling stop-and-search, but additionally in relation to the disproportionate variety of black and minority ethnic individuals who die after police contact. In 2015-16 there have been 14 deaths in police custody, down from 17 the earlier yr, however a lot decrease than the degrees within the Nineties or early 2000s, based on figures from the Impartial Police Complaints Fee cited in Angiolini’s evaluation.
My analysis into 68 deaths between 2004 and 2015 revealed that in case you are from a black or minority ethnic neighborhood, or in case you have psychological well being points, or a substance dependency, you’re considerably extra prone to die after police contact than in case you are not from considered one of these teams. Most individuals who die after police contact haven’t dedicated a violent crime and haven’t been violent whereas within the care of the police.
The problems of psychological well being and substance dependency clearly underline the query of whether or not police needs to be coping with such people. Some schemes are serving to the emergency providers work extra carefully collectively on these points. A avenue triage collaboration to take care of people who’ve psychological well being crises within the West Midlands Police space, which helps determine individuals in want of help somewhat than take them to a police cell or A&E, has improved the requirements of care to weak individuals. Angiolini highlights that NHS providers and native authorities should additionally play a task in decreasing the quantity of people that die after contact with the police.
A approach ahead
The evaluation makes a lot of welcome suggestions. These embrace the phasing out of police cells as “locations of security” for people detained beneath the Psychological Well being Act. Whereas detention in police custody beneath the act was all the time supposed to be an exception, not a rule, official stories lately present that using police cells has been widespread.
Angiolini additionally recommends using body-worn cameras by all officers in public-facing roles, together with within the custody atmosphere. She additionally recommends enhancements in police coaching on psychological well being points and improved protocols between the police, NHS and native authorities on coping with intoxicated people and people with psychological well being points.
Whereas the federal government has broadly welcomed these suggestions, it has but to decide to their full implementation. However it has supported two key suggestions: that households who lose family members in police custody ought to have entry to authorized help with out means testing, and that youngsters beneath the age of 18 who’re arrested beneath the Psychological Well being Act shouldn’t be detained in police custody.
Marketing campaign teams resembling INQUEST and household help teams have welcomed the evaluation and its suggestions as laudable and representing significant change. However households have been vital concerning the equivocal authorities response to Angiolini’s suggestions since its launch.
I’m sceptical about the place the funding will come from to make sure that nearly all of the evaluation’s findings will likely be carried out, provided that we stay in an age of austerity the place police and different emergency providers are anticipated to do extra, with much less. The federal government’s purported want to withdraw from the European Conference on Human Rights within the aftermath of Brexit provides additional uncertainty over whether or not the suggestions of the Angiolini evaluation – that are, in any case, constructed across the human rights of people that come into contact with the police – will likely be carried out. Whereas critiques characterize the potential for change, they don’t essentially equate to vary in working cultures and practices on the bottom.
David Baker doesn’t work for, seek the advice of, personal shares in or obtain funding from any firm or group that will profit from this text, and has disclosed no related affiliations past their educational appointment.
