Allegations of excessive use of force and use of insulting/abusive language - Northamptonshire Police, November 2017

On 14 October 2017 a man was brought into custody by Northamptonshire Police officers. He was taken into the holding cell, where he was verbally aggressive and physically resisting officers.

As a consequence of his behaviour, the man was detained in the prone position on the floor, handcuffed to the rear and fast straps applied to his legs. He continued to be verbally and physically resisting.

As the man was being taken through the custody area, an officer approached him and addressed the man using language that may be considered insulting. The officer then pulled the man forward at speed with his hands around and beneath the man’s neck, forcing the man’s head downwards as he moved backwards at speed.

The officer continued to move backwards with the man in a backwards headlock and entered the cell. The officer then pulled both of the man’s arms, which were handcuffed to the rear, up 90 degrees and, holding the cuffs with one hand and the man’s jogging bottoms with the other, lifted the man in the air, bent at the waist with his head down.

The officer then adopted a ground pin technique where he again lifted the arms up to and beyond a 90-degree angle with their left knee placed in the rear of the man’s neck, giving leverage and downward pressure from the knee to the neck.

The incident was brought to the attention of Northamptonshire Police Professional Standards Department. The force then referred this matter to us in November 2017.

Our investigation centred around the alleged use of force by the officer. We served six officers with notices that they were under investigation. We interviewed all of them under caution.

Our investigators obtained and reviewed footage obtained from the officers’ body-worn video cameras. As the incident had taken place over 30 days before, CCTV footage from the custody suite was no longer available. We obtained statements from the officers who raised concerns in relation to the force used on the man. We also reviewed custody paperwork and medical notes relating to the man’s detention. Our investigators also sought advice from a Lead Officer Safety Trainer regarding the restraint techniques used by the officer, including holding the man by his neck.

Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that there was sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable misconduct hearing could find that the officer had breached the standards of professional behaviour and had a case to answer for gross misconduct for their use of force, and for using insulting and abusive language when dealing with the man.

We were also of the view that four officers would benefit from management action for not challenging the officer’s behaviour.

We completed our investigation in October 2018.

After reviewing our report, Northamptonshire Police agreed that the officer had a case to answer for gross misconduct and should attend a gross misconduct hearing. Regarding the other four officers, they agreed that the performance of three of them had been unsatisfactory, and that they would receive management action. They proposed that the fourth one, who had raised concerns with another officer, would be given management advice from a senior officer. We agreed that their proposals were appropriate.

At the gross misconduct hearing, in March 2019, the independent panel found gross misconduct proven. The officer received a final written warning.