Police contact with man before death - Greater Manchester Police, September 2022

In September 2022, a man was arrested by Greater Manchester Police (GMP) but released on the same day. He followed his bail conditions the next month. Shortly after, GMP received a report of a dead body at an allotment. There was a delay in cutting a ligature and providing CPR. The man was transported to hospital but was pronounced dead.

We interviewed officers who responded to the incident. We reviewed and analysed the body worn video footage and considered the officers’ actions alongside relevant policy and training. We also sought an expert medical opinion.

We waited for all external proceedings to be finalised before sharing our findings. 

A misconduct meeting was held and resulted in two officers undergoing the reflective practice review process (RPRP). In addition, a third officer was requested to undergo RPRP as a result of our decision-making. 

An officer reflecting on their actions is a formal process reflected in legislation. The reflective practice review process consists of a fact-finding stage and a discussion stage, followed by the production of a reflective review development report. The discussion must include:

• a discussion of the practice requiring improvement and related circumstances that have been identified, and
• the identification of key lessons to be learnt by the participating officer, line management or police force concerned, to address the matter and prevent a reoccurrence of the matter.

We carefully considered whether there were any organisational 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 issued any learning recommendations, but we recognise that GMP made changes to their training following our investigation.