Source · IOPC Learning Case

Recommendation - Avon and Somerset Constabulary, August 2022

Avon and Somerset Constabulary Ref: 2021/154480 Recommended 26 Aug 2022 Response due 21 Oct 2022

Welfare and vulnerable people

We identified organisational learning from a death or serious injury review. The case related to a man who was accused of sexual abuse against a family member and did not receive a risk assessment because he attended a police interview voluntarily. Details of the allegation were leaked on social media which led to the man attempting to take his own life.

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Recommendations

1 total

Recommendation 1

Avon and Somerset Police amend their policy to require that all suspects in cases relating to alleged child sexual abuse or exploitation are provided with the same level of suicide risk assessment, regardless of whether they attend voluntarily or are brought into custody. This follows a Death or Serious Injury investigation where a male accused of sexually abusing a family member attempted suicide following details of the allegations being made public on Facebook. Though the police could not have foreseen the posting on social media, no risk assessment was ever carried out for the male as he had attended voluntarily and not through custody (where he would have been risk assessed on entry and release as per force policy). Section three of the College of Policing’s Operational Advice note on Managing the risk of suicide (1 (college.police.uk)) relates specifically to investigations concerning online abuse or exploitation of children and/or indecent images of children. However its recommendations are transferable to all criminal investigations pertaining to child (or familial) sexual abuse, or indeed suspects in any sexual offence case. The purpose of including this into force policy would be to ensure that all suspects in cases relating to alleged child sexual abuse or exploitation are appropriately risk assessed – including those who attend for voluntary interview, rather than going through custody. It would ensure there was a process in place to manage the risk of suicide for suspects in all such cases. Do you accept the recommendation? Yes

Addressed to: Avon and Somerset Police amend their policy

Linked bodies: Avon and Somerset Police amend their policy

Accepted

Force response

Accepted action: ASP have amended their procedural guidance. Section 6 details suspect suicide and self harm prevention. I have copied the relevant sections below. ---------------------------------------------------------------- “Officers should carry out a suspect self-harm and suicide risk assessment and appropriate risk management planning at the earliest opportunity in every Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation investigation in order to identify self-harm and suicide risks and any necessary control measures. Officers should record on the Niche report the steps taken to identify self-harm and suicide risks, and any control measures taken, in order to support ongoing risk management and provide a clear audit trail.” “All suspects in cases relating to alleged child sexual abuse or exploitation must be provided with the same level of suicide risk assessment, regardless of whether they attend voluntarily or are brought into custody.”