National recommendation - National Police Chiefs Council, November 2020
The detainee attempted to complete suicide in his custody cell by manipulating a Spork he had been left in possession of into a weapon. The Spork was first sharpened and used in an attempt to cut his wrists. It was then used to remove the elastic from the waistband of a pair of trousers deemed safe by custody staff. This elastic was then formed into a noose and the Spork was used again by the detainee to twist the elastic and thereby tighten the ligature around his neck until he lost consciousness.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that the NPCC ensures that custody staff at all police forces 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. Custody leads are specifically asked to:
a) Note and inform their staff that plastic cutlery - whilst safer than metal cutlery - can still be used and modified to cause injury to a detainee intent on harming themselves.
b) Note and remind their staff of the detention and custody APP on cutlery and crockery, in particular that all items connected with meals and drinks should be removed from cells immediately after use to prevent them from being used to cause injury or damage.
c) Review their policies and procedures to clarify what officers and staff should consider with regard to mitigating risk when cutlery or crockery is provided to a detainee who is known to be at increased risk of self-harm and/or experiencing active suicide ideation.
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:
NPCC custody have accepted the recommendations in full and have circulated them in our custody newsletter (which has gone out to all heads of custody in England and Wales and also to relevant stakeholders). This was sent out on 24th September 2020. We have also formally circulated the recommendations to all Chief Constables nationally via ChiefsNet on 25th September 2020.