Recommendation - Hampshire Constabulary, November 2020

The IOPC recommends that Hampshire Constabulary should ensure that all custody staff are made aware of the risk of leaving detainees with unsupervised access to cutlery, as such items can be manipulated to cause serious injury to the detainee or others. Hampshire Constabulary should review their custody policies to clarify guidance around the provision of cutlery. Firstly, in terms of procedures for providing cutlery to detainees who are experiencing active suicide ideation, or who are otherwise at an elevated risk of self-harm and, secondly, with regard to procedures for removing cutlery from cells after use. Force custody policies should be consistent with the guidance outlined in the College of Policing’s Authorised Professional Practice.

This recommendation follows an IOPC review of a local investigation report into a serious injury in custody. In this case the detained person had a history of self-harm and suicide attempts in custody and was left with unsupervised access to a Spork, as it was not removed after use and was left in the cell for over two hours. The detained person sharpened the Spork and attempted to use it to cut his wrists. The detained person then used the Spork to remove a length of elastic from a pair of trousers deemed safe by custody staff. The Spork was used to tighten a ligature formed from the elastic around the detained person’s neck, which caused him to lose consciousness.

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

​Hampshire Constabulary accepts the recommendations made by the IOPC and believe it is both fair and achievable.

Our duty of care for detainees held within our custody suites is a priority.

In response to this recommendation our Force Custody lead for PACE/Policy has already communicated the particulars of this case and the lessons to be learned through the Custody Courier.

This is an internal bulletin that is circulated to all custody staff and retained on the intranet as a reference document that can be accessed by any member of staff within the constabulary.

In addition a short presentation will be compiled and delivered at each Police Investigation Centre by one of the team sergeants for every custody team across the organisation – this is already in progress.

The lead custody trainer has reviewed what is currently taught to new sergeants and detention officers joining custody. They have ensured that the issue of leaving items in a cell is covered in detail, highlighting the elevated risk to detainees who have disclosed a history of self-harm or previous suicide attempts.

We have checked our force policy and confirmed the subject of items in cells such as sporks is not covered at present, however it is covered within our Standard Operating Procedures (SoPs). The specific wording has been altered to emphasise the points highlighted in this recommendation and will read:-

‘Staff must ensure that regular checks are conducted on detainees who are eating. Where a detainee is intoxicated staff should be mindful of the risk of giving them food and drink which could cause choking if left unsupervised. Sporks and food containers are to be removed when no longer required to reduce their misuse and the risk of self-harm. Where information has been received indicating that the detainee may be at increased risk of self-harming, the custody officer should consider what measures may be necessary to mitigate any risk identified whilst legitimately using such items.

The recommendations from this case have been captured on the Force Custody Risk Log, and will remain live until all actions are discharged.