04 September 2017
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"A long-awaited unpublished official report into deaths in police custody says families who have lost loved ones have been failed by the system and recommends far-reaching reforms to the police, justice system and health service, the Guardian has learned.
The report, ordered by Theresa May in 2015 while she was home secretary, is yet to be published, prompting warnings from some groups that the government delay risks damaging public confidence.
The report by Dame Elish Angiolini QC will say there should be a ban on those detained under mental health powers being held in police cells, and being transported in police vehicles, except in exceptional cases. It will also say that holding those believed to be suffering from mental health issues in police cells should be phased out completely."
See: UK: Families of people who died in police custody failed by system – report (The Guardian, link)
And see: Four black men die. Did police actions play a part? (The Guardian, link):
"Four deaths, all different, but with sufficient similarities for some to suggest a pattern. Yet the new details form only part of the narrative – the testimony of officers involved is not known – and the IPCC investigations will take months to conclude. Both the Met and Warwickshire police state that only when the watchdog has established the full facts can “any conclusions be made”.
Yet the deaths pose awkward questions for the police, fermenting simmering disquiet over longstanding issues of race and criminality. All four families want the truth, then justice."
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