Source · IOPC Learning Case

Recommendation - West Midlands Police, April 2021

West Midlands Police Ref: 2019/127562 Recommended 6 Apr 2021 Response due 1 Jun 2021

Death and serious injury

This case relates to a man who was initially arrested on 31 October 2019. Immediately after his arrest officers took the man to hospital as it was believed that he had taken 60 paracetamol tablets. The man was treated in hospital and was subsequently taken to police custody to deal with the criminal issues. Whilst in custody he was interviewed and subsequently released. Two days later police were contacted by an individual reporting concern for the man's health as he …

View on IOPC website ↗

Recommendations

1 total

Recommendation 1

The IOPC recommends that West Midlands Police takes steps to ensure that an appropriate and consistent level of information is included in custody records/Electronic Detention Logs (EDLs) when completing a pre-release risk assessment. This should include considering: - minimum standards of information required - any necessary training for custody officers and staf - ongoing monitoring and evaluation of custody records Any minimum standards or training should be in line with the guidance contained in the College of Policing Detention and Custody APP, which states that a pre-release risk assessment should not be left until the point of release, but should be an ongoing process throughout detention and concluded at the point of release. This matter has arisen following a DSI review, where it was identified that there is a lack of guidance provided to custody officers around the information which should be contained in pre-release risk assessments. An Inspector in West Midlands Police, who is currently a Unit Custody Manager, has advised that custody staff are currently referring to an email which was provided to staff in 2017-2018 by a now retired Inspector, in respect of pre-release risk assessments and that not all Sergeants will use the questions suggested, as there is no policy which states that they must do so. It is of note that during the DSI review, the Inspector was unable to locate the email referred to.

Addressed to: West Midlands Police

Linked bodies: West Midlands Police

Accepted

Force response

Do you accept the recommendation? Yes Accepted action: PSD Appropriate Authority has liaised with CJS SLT re: IOPC recommendations The Criminal Justice Services (CJS) team follow the APP guidance: Custody procedures follow the College of Policing guidance – APP Detention and Custody (last updated February 2020). The CJS team have regular performance meetings with their PACE Inspectors and ‘Learning the Lessons’ forms part of this. There is also a specific online ‘Learning the Lessons’ portal for CJS, where matters are captured for on-going learning. The CJS PACE Inspectors also undertake regular dip sampling of custody records. WMP I.T. upgrade- WMP have implemented a new I.T. system called CONNECT. CONNECT incorporates several WMP I.T systems that were formally standalone. Custody I.T. systems have been integrated into CONNECT. CONNECT now allows for a more structured pre-release risk assessment with specific prompts (x10) that need to be completed by the Custody Sergeant. Training- Until March 2021, WMP Learning & Development (L&D) based their custody training programme on the College of Policing Detention and Custody Learning programme and operated within the guidelines supplied. In March 2021 the College of Policing launched the Detention and Custody Programme as part of the National Policing Curriculum. WMP L&D team are reviewing the new programme to ensure that any future WMP training programme is compliant. Training – Learning & Development have designed a dedicated training course for Custody Sergeants, DEOs and COAs. Training (Custody Sergeants)- There are additional inputs on managing adverse incidents; Liaison & Diversion Team input on their service offer; NDM input – to support decision making and writing of care plans; Pre-risk assessments- Managing foreseeable risk.