October 13, 2004: Death in Police Custody: New Figures

A new Home Office statistical bulletin on Deaths During Or Following Police Contact provides information on deaths that occurred during or following police contact between April 2003 and March 2004.The full bulletin can be downloaded here.

There were 100 such deaths during this period. This was a slight reduction on the previous year (2002/03) when 104 such deaths occurred. The report provides a breakdown of the Individual Circumstances of each death. The Home Office officially categorises such death in the following way:

Category 1 – Fatal Road Traffic Incidents Involving the Police
Category 2 – Fatal Shooting Incidents Involving the Police
Category 3 – Deaths in or Following Custody
Category 4 – Deaths during or following other types of contact with the police

Those who died as a result of self-harm during or following contact with the police have also decreased – down from 13 in 2002/03 to 9 this year. Of these, 4 died whilst in police custody and the remaining deaths occurred after some other form of police contact.

During 2003/04, the report notes, there has been a significant decrease in the number of people from minority ethnic minority groups who died during or following contact with the police. There were 10 such deaths this year compared to 22 recorded in 2002/03.

The 2002/3 total of deaths from people in minority ethnic groups had raised the issues that there may have an underlying reason linked to ethnicity. The Home Office commissioned research and the Police Complaints Authority looked at all minority ethnic deaths in police custody between 1998 and March 2003 to identify any links or causes. While there were grounds for concern relating to some aspects of the general treatment of all detainees, there appeared to be little evidence to suggest that concerns were directly linked to racial stereotyping and racist attitudes or behaviour