Home / Sources / IOPC Learning / 2022/168278
Source · IOPC Learning Case

Recommendation - West Yorkshire Police, September 2022

West Yorkshire Police Ref: 2022/168278 Recommended 30 Sep 2022 Response due 25 Nov 2022
Child sexual abuse Death and serious injury Welfare and vulnerable people

View on IOPC website ↗

Case background

Text published by the IOPC.

We identified organisational learning from a local death or serious injury report after a suspect in a child sexual abuse case took their own life while under investigation. The Officer in Charge (OIC) took the appropriate safeguarding action when the suspect was released from custody. However, force policy states that there should be an ongoing risk strategy and that there are certain trigger points in an investigation that may mean that the risk of self-harm is increased. The OIC does not appear to have known about this policy, which is concealed within the force's policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People.

Recommendations and responses

1 indexed

Recommendation 1

Link to recommendation · Accepted

Addressed to: West Yorkshire Police

Linked bodies: West Yorkshire Police

IOPC recommendation

The IOPC recommends that West Yorkshire Police devises supplementary guidance on safeguarding suspects during child sexual abuse investigations. At present the guidance is contained within force policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People. We recommend that the guidance is embedded in all relevant policies under a specific heading of suspect welfare. We also recommend that the current guidance is revised to incorporate College of Policing Guidance (Managing the risk of suicide for persons under investigation for online child sexual abuse and exploitation).

Response published by the IOPC

Accepted action:

The recommendation has been accepted by the Force.

As a result, a supplementary guidance document has been created by the Safeguarding Central Governance Unit. The Guidance Document has been embedded into all relevant policies under the heading of ‘Suspect Considerations’

The Guidance also includes the College of Policing Guidance in respect of Managing the Risk of Suicide for Persons Under Investigation for Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. The Guidance document is linked to the following policies:

Safeguarding Children and Young People policy,Custody and Detention policy,

The changes were implemented on the 16/11/22

Check the original case on the IOPC website