Recommendation 1
The IOPC recommends that the College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council ensures national training and guidance on use of force makes clear that a subject being restrained and experiencing breathing difficulties may still be able to talk and communicate this. Action should always be taken in response to assess and reduce any potentially restricted breathing.
This follows two IOPC investigations in which police officers knelt on the necks of men they were restraining. On both occasions the men informed the officers that they could not breathe. When providing statements justifying their use of force at a later date, both officers said that they did not believe the men were experiencing difficulty breathing because they were able to say that they couldn’t breathe.
Currently, the Personal Safety Manual lists “subject tells the officer that they cannot breathe” as a sign/symptom of positional asphyxia, and kneeling on a person’s neck is not taught in training. However, the fact that this issue is still appearing in our cases, suggests that training and guidance could be improved to emphasise the risks. We have recently made a national recommendation emphasising the risks when officers do not take seriously complaints made by subject's being restrained. This is another serious manifestation of that. We are aware that changes are due to be made to the way in which Officer Safety Training (OST) is delivered nationally. We would suggest that forces are advised to implement this recommendation in their current iterations of OST nationally, as well as any newly developed OST that is rolled out.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Addressed to: College of Policing and National Police Chiefs Council
Linked bodies:
College of Policing;
National Police Chiefs Council