Recommendation 1
The IOPC recommends that the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) shares the learning from IOPC cases with force bail leads, asking them to review their bail policies, procedures and training to ensure that risk assessments are conducted when suspects of child sexual abuse offences answer bail.
This follows an IOPC review of a Death and Serious Injury (DSI) local investigation where a male under investigation for child sexual abuse offences took his own life one week after answering bail. A risk assessment was not conducted when he attended the custody suite.
There is already an expectation that suspects of child sexual abuse offences should be subject to a risk assessment when answering bail, and during other potential “trigger events”, as outlined in the College of Policing’s operational advice onManaging the risk of suicide for persons under investigation for online child sexual abuse and exploitation. However, IOPC cases have identified some inconsistent practices between different forces in how they apply this advice in relation to the use of risk assessments during such situations.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Addressed to: National Police Chiefs Council
Linked bodies:
National Police Chiefs Council