Man becomes unwell in custody - Merseyside Police, March 2017

On 14 March 2017 Merseyside Police arrested a man on suspicion of theft. The man was taken to a police station, where he was searched and assessed by a healthcare professional. The man later became unresponsive in a police cell and was found to have a plastic bag in his hand containing a number of capsules. Custody staff called for an ambulance and the man was transported to hospital.

The man was treated at hospital for a potential opiate overdose and returned to custody later that day.

Investigators interviewed the arresting officers and police custody staff as witnesses, examined the CCTV footage, custody logs, legislation and national and local policy and procedure.

During the investigation there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

We found that the man was searched twice prior to being placed in his cell. CCTV footage from the cell indicated that there was no evidence of the man having taken any controlled substances while he was detained. The package of drugs found in his hand appeared to be unopened. There was therefore no indication that Merseyside Police may have caused or contributed to the man’s serious injury.

Our investigation found that some of the checks on the man while in his cell had not been carried out in accordance with regulations. The force proposed to deal with this through management action for one custody officer, and to share the learning from this investigation with wider custody staff. We agreed that their proposals were appropriate.