An independent inquiry into deaths in custody in England and Wales has revealed that the police are able to ‘ignore’ those deaths in their custody if the person was not officially ‘arrested’ at the time of death. This means that many high-profile deaths are not counted as deaths in custody. There is a news report on the findings here:
Rate of deaths in custody is higher than officials admit
This comes as the Deputy Chairwoman of the police watchdog: The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) calls the body ‘ineffective’:
The IPCC carries out its own investigations into less than 1 per cent of all complaints, leading to accusations that the procedure remains “police investigating the police”. A third of its investigators are also former police officers.
See the full story here:
