Death in Police Custody (700A/21)
Request
Q1: Beginning with the year Apr ’15–Mar ’16, for each year up to and including Apr ‘20–Mar ’21, please could you provide the following information:
- The number of deaths in police custody
- The number of suicides in police custody
Q2: Please could you provide a breakdown by:
- Gender
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Means of death
- Crime accused of
- Whether suspected, indicted for or convicted of accused crime
- Whether the person was being managed on an ACCT plan at the time of their death
Response
Please find enclosed our response.
We can confirm that some relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, we are withholding that information since it is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions
Section 38 (1) (a) (b) (Health and safety)
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (700A/21 attachment)
Question 1:
| Year | 2015-2016 | 2016-2017 | 2017-2018 | 2018-2019 | 2019-2020 | 2020-2021 |
| Deaths | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Suicides | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Question 2:
Both deaths were of males, with a white European ethnicity. Please note that these individuals died in Police Custody after having had reached a custody suite.
The means of death – age – crime accused of – whether suspected for or convicted of accused crime – whether the person was being managed on an ACCT plan at the time of death, are all exempt due to S38 Health and Safety, as the information may endanger the physical or mental health of any individual, ie the deceased family members.
As recommended as good practice by the Information Commissioner’s Office a