The number of deaths during or following police contact has reached record levels over the last year according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The IOPC is the official watchdog for police forces across England and Wales. All complaints about deaths in police custody or involving the police are automatically referred to the IOPC for investigation.
There are four main categories from which the IOPC classifies these fatalities (road traffic incidents, fatal shootings, deaths in and following police custody, apparent suicides following custody).
Commenting on this year’s figures, IOPC Director General Rachel Watson said: “Each and every death captured by these official statistics is a tragic loss for the families and loved ones involved and can have a profound impact on others.
“It is important that any learning from investigations is acted on and fed into improvements to help police officers better manage risk.”
The road traffic incidents category is too vaguely-defined, in its merging of both pursuit and emergency-service-related fatalities, to draw any meaningful conclusions.
Of these figures, the two categories pertaining to police custody-related deaths have spiked over the last decade.
Deaths in and following police custody
This category relates to all deaths occurring whilst a person is detained or otherwise under police supervision. 24 deaths were recorded under this category for the year 2023/24, and 23 from the year before.
These are some of the highest figures seen since 2006/07 and rolling statistics published by Inquest show that more cases have arisen in the first quarter of 2025 underlining the perpetual nature of the problem.
Senior Caseworker at INQUEST Selen Cavcav said: “Each tragic case is a damning indictment of the failures of the police to learn from previous deaths and it raises serious concerns about the attitudes and approach of both the police and medical staff towards vulnerable people.”
Apparent suicides following police custody
There were 68 apparent suicides following police custody in 2023/24 as shown above.
There is a strict two-day window following release for a death to fall under this category and it is circumstantially-derived hence the word ‘apparent.’
It is presumed that the suicide was as a result of one’s recent arrest, but since this cannot be directly ascertained there’s a strict two-day window from which to presume this to be the reason.
Of these 68 apparent suicides, 31 (46%) of these cases were in relation to alleged sexual offences with a further breakdown of these figures showing that 26 of the 31 involved sexual offences against children.
Violent offences are also statistically overrepresented in the post-custody suicide rates, accounting for 15 of the 68 (22%) post-custody suicides in 2023/24.
Of the 24 reported deaths in and following police custody: 21 were white( 87.5%); 1 was black (4.2%) and the remaining two were from the ‘mixed’ and ‘other’ categories respectively.
Of the 68 apparent suicides following custody: 62 were white (91%) , 2 were black (2.9%), 3 were Asian (4.4%) and 1 was from the ‘other’ category (1.5%).
These figures are roughly commensurate with the national population ethnic demographics from the 2021 consensus (81.7% white, Asian 9.3%, Black 4%, Mixed 2.9%, Other 2%) – an anomaly across the criminal justice system where ethnic minority groups are usually overrepresented in the statistics.
Whilst previous figures from the Metropolitan Police confirm that black people are four times more likely to have force used against them of these incidents, few lead to subsequent death.
The gender divide here is far greater than the regular arrest rate between men and women.
Women made up 16% of all arrests in 2023/24, but only made up 8% of deaths in and following police custody, and just over 11 of apparent suicides following custody.
The mental health correlation is statistically significant here with additional information supplied by IOPC in the addendum stating that, of the 24 total number of deaths in and following police custody; a staggering 19 of them were known to mental health services (one had even been detained under Mental Health Act 1983), and 21 of the 24 had a reportedly destructive relationship with drugs and/or alcohol. These figures are indicative of an overall lacuna that needs filling in terms of fostering a system that’s as supportive as it is punitive. The fact that the vast majority of the deceased were known to mental health services points to just how overstretched the health and social care system is.
Director of Inquest charity, Deborah Coles, continues to drive home this message: “The fact that the majority of these deaths relate to mental ill health and drugs and alcohol reiterate the urgent need for a community health and not a policing response.
“Ultimately to prevent further deaths and harm, we must look beyond policing and redirect resources into community, health, welfare and specialist drug and alcohol services.”
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Photo Credits: Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona used with permission under Unsplash license
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