Many anti-police-brutality sources are citing that there have been 333 deaths in or shortly following police custody since 1998. This is true (well, as of this financial year's statistics it's 354), but some sources are not clear on the distinction between police custody and police contact.
Deaths during or shortly following police contact are much higher - 147 this year alone, including 46 suicides - and although I only have statistics back as far as 2001, there have been 1072 deaths since then. You can check the statistics back to 2005 here although you have to request older data from the IPCC as they do not keep it on their website as far as I know.
It is of course absurd to pretend that deaths in police custody are all we should be focussing on. 46 of the deaths this financial year were suicides, and this is always the largest proportion of deaths. Last year it was 54. It's almost certainly a conservative estimate too - only suicides in the two days following police contact are counted, unless there is other strong evidence that links the police (for example, in suicide notes).
We also need to understand the number of cases that never make the annals of the IPCC. Deaths amongst the homeless, and the isolated are rarely, if ever, recorded. Nobody notices they're gone. Hundreds of cases are dismissed due to 'lack of evidence'. Well, when somebody's beaten in the back of a van, or in an underpass, that pretty well goes without saying.
Deaths that occur in public order situations attract a lot of publicity. While this is obviously a good thing, the deaths that occur in the everyday work of the police are far more numerous. Where is their publicity?
It's time we started counting the other deaths due to police action. It's not a competition, but police driving people to suicide is arguably worse even than directly killing them. Let's stop saying 333 deaths since 1998. Let's start saying 1072 in the last ten years.
Major sources here:
333 deaths, IPCC: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/Pages/pr_031210_deathsincustodystudy.aspx
Annual deaths, IPCC: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/en/Pages/reports_polcustody.aspx
Remainder available on request.
Deaths during or shortly following police contact are much higher - 147 this year alone, including 46 suicides - and although I only have statistics back as far as 2001, there have been 1072 deaths since then. You can check the statistics back to 2005 here although you have to request older data from the IPCC as they do not keep it on their website as far as I know.
It is of course absurd to pretend that deaths in police custody are all we should be focussing on. 46 of the deaths this financial year were suicides, and this is always the largest proportion of deaths. Last year it was 54. It's almost certainly a conservative estimate too - only suicides in the two days following police contact are counted, unless there is other strong evidence that links the police (for example, in suicide notes).
We also need to understand the number of cases that never make the annals of the IPCC. Deaths amongst the homeless, and the isolated are rarely, if ever, recorded. Nobody notices they're gone. Hundreds of cases are dismissed due to 'lack of evidence'. Well, when somebody's beaten in the back of a van, or in an underpass, that pretty well goes without saying.
Deaths that occur in public order situations attract a lot of publicity. While this is obviously a good thing, the deaths that occur in the everyday work of the police are far more numerous. Where is their publicity?
It's time we started counting the other deaths due to police action. It's not a competition, but police driving people to suicide is arguably worse even than directly killing them. Let's stop saying 333 deaths since 1998. Let's start saying 1072 in the last ten years.
Major sources here:
333 deaths, IPCC: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/news/Pages/pr_031210_deathsincustodystudy.aspx
Annual deaths, IPCC: http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/en/Pages/reports_polcustody.aspx
Remainder available on request.
God I can believe that. Looking back at my worst encounter with police, it's hard to believe I'm still alive.
ReplyDeleteHey - would you mind if we swiped this and republished on Topsoil? It's an *excellent* post.
ReplyDelete