23 December 201825 July 2019 4WardEverUK

Police watchdog admits that investigations must ‘speed up’

source: BBC News
published: 21 December 2018

The police watchdog has admitted its investigations take too long – with officers facing misconduct probes suspended on full pay for years. Data shows almost half of the UK’s suspended officers have been off-duty for at least a year.

One, who has retrained as a priest, told the BBC he has spent five years being paid “unnecessarily” for a job he does not want to do. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it must do better.

From the 31 forces that provided information to the BBC through a Freedom of Information request, 71 of the 153 officers (46%) who were fully suspended from duty in October 2018 had been suspended since at least November 2017.

6 July 201825 July 2019 4WardEverUK

Thirty two women die following restraint

sources: Mental Health Today
published: 3 July 2018

Thirty two women died after experiencing restraint over a five year period, according to new figures obtained by Agenda, an alliance for women and girls at risk.

The data, on patients detained under the Mental Health Act, suggests women were more likely to have restraint-related deaths than men between 2012/13 and 2016/17.

Younger women made up a large number of the restraint-related deaths – 13 were aged 30 and under, compared to four men in that age range.

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7 May 201818 July 2019 4WardEverUK

Custody visits by members of the public failing to hold police to account

source: The Conversation
published: 30 April 2018

Custody in police stations is a very locked-down affair. People who have been arrested and are detained spend most of the time isolated in their cells. Custody visitors, the only outsiders who get to see the detainees, are neither respected by the police nor trusted by the detainees.

“My recent research has revealed serious problems in the system of monitoring police custody, now known as the Independent Custody Visiting Scheme. This scheme, run locally by Police and Crime Commissioners, enables members of the public to make random, unannounced visits to check on the welfare of the detainees in police custody” [says author, John Kendall].