Police actions during a man’s detention - Metropolitan Police Service, April 2017

On 2 April 2017 the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) received a call from a woman. She reported her son was threatening her and causing a disturbance. A number of police officers attended the woman’s address and the man was arrested for common assault. He was taken to Lewisham Police Station in a police van.

When the man was in Lewisham Police Station a strip search was authorised by a police sergeant, as he was concerned that the man may have taken drugs and may have concealed some on his person. When the man was informed he was going to be strip searched he disclosed he had bipolar disorder and said he needed an appropriate adult present for the search. The police sergeant refused to call an appropriate adult for the man. Subsequently, the strip search was carried out by a police officer and a member of police staff.

While in police custody the man was assessed by a mental health team. Following this assessment the man was sectioned under the Mental Health Act 1983. On 3 April 2017 the man was released from police custody and transported to a secure mental health unit.

During the investigation, investigators obtained statements from several witnesses and examined CCTV footage from the custody suite. Following this, the police sergeant was served with a misconduct notice alleging he had failed to call an appropriate adult for the man, despite the man informing the sergeant he had a mental health illness. Investigators then interviewed the police sergeant.

Based on the evidence available, we were of the opinion that the officer’s performance had been unsatisfactory, but did not amount to misconduct.

Having reviewed our report, the MPS agreed and proposed to deal with this through unsatisfactory performance procedures for the officer.

We agreed that their proposal was appropriate.