Recommendation - Essex Police, July 2023
We identified organisational learning from a death or serious injury review.
A man was being taken to custody after an arrest, when officers decided to drive under emergency conditions, due to a number of factors. The man stood up in the caged area of the police van but fell causing a serious cut to his shoulder. This subsequently required stitches.
Officers took the man straight to hospital where he was treated for his injury.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police should take steps to ensure that, in line with Authorised Professional Practice, if a detainee being transported in a police van becomes violent and/or stands up during the journey then officers should, where practicable, stop the vehicle, regain control, and only then resume the journey. This is particularly important when officers transport a detainee under an emergency response, and/or the detainee is being restrained by handcuffs or other equipment and are not able to support themselves if they become off-balance.
This follows an IOPC review of a Death and Serious Injury (DSI) investigation whereby a male was being transported to police custody in the caged area of a police van after being arrested. During the journey the man was verbally aggressive to officers, was feeling hot and perspiring in the cage, and complained of feeling faint. Whilst en-route officers took the decision to transport the male under emergency conditions. This decision was made due to a number of factors including the behaviour of the male, his assertion that he was about to faint, his physical appearance, the temperature inside the van and the distance between the location of arrest and the custody suite. During the journey the male stood up in the caged area of the van. He stumbled and fell forwards causing a serious cut to his arm/shoulder. Officers transported the male straight to hospital where he received treatment.
Current Approved Professional Practice is set out in guidance for Moving and transporting detainees | College of Policing.
Accepted
Action taken has been confirmed by Ch Insp Lee Devall, Performance Improvement Unit, Learning & Development:
Guidance in this regard, will be issued and reinforced through the following:
Driver training – The driver training department will reinforce this guidance when carrying out Police van assessments, training and refreshers and conversations will take place to assess the students understanding of responsibilities and especially when under response conditions and when the detainee is restrained.
Police and Public Safety Training - This guidance will be given on scenarios whereby prisoners are placed into a Police van under restraint and students understanding will be assessed on any such practical exercise.
Communications – Article through the FLiPP connexions (intranet briefing page) briefing page which sets out the IOPC guidance. Also reinforced through the Viva engage group chat.
Ch Insp Devall will monitor the compliance of this guidance through both Driver training and Police and Public safety training.