Use of force on a woman - Thames Valley Police, 8 March 2019

An officer from Thames Valley Police was called to attend a residential property after police received a report of a welfare concern for a student who living at the property who was believed to have been suffering from a mental health crisis. The officer who attended tried to get the woman to leave the property and during this time requested further assistance from officers. During the incident the woman was restrained and fell unconscious and an ambulance was called. She regained consciousness and was examined by medical professionals.

We investigated the contact the woman had with the police prior to her becoming unconscious, we obtained body-worn video footage, as well as accounts from the officers involved. We interviewed the officer who attended the incident first. We were unable to obtain an account from the injured woman.

During our investigation there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. In this case, the investigation has not identified any learning.