Man becomes unwell in custody - Kent Police, January 2019

On 19 January 2019, Kent Police arrested a man and detained him at Medway custody suite. The man was intoxicated, and so the decision was made to put him on 30-minute observational checks. The man was not checked on for approximately 40 minutes. During this time he tied a sock around his neck and appeared to lose consciousness on two occasions. A review of the man’s custody record showed that an entry had been made with a record of a cell check, when in fact the CCTV shows this check did not take place.

During the investigation we examined CCTV from the custody suite and obtained statements from police witnesses. Our investigators interviewed the staff member who made an entry to record an incorrect cell visit.

We were of the view there was clear evidence the member of staff made an inaccurate entry on the custody record. The staff member accepted this and explained this was an error, and that their performance had not been at the standard expected of them. We recommended that they had a debrief about this matter with their line manager in order to consolidate learning from the incident. We completed our investigation in August 2019.

After reviewing our report, Kent Police agreed.