Quickly exit this site by pressing the Escape key Leave this site
We use some essential cookies to make our website work. We’d like to set additional cookies so we can remember your preferences and understand how you use our site.
You can manage your preferences and cookie settings at any time by clicking on “Customise Cookies” below. For more information on how we use cookies, please see our Cookies notice.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Your cookie preferences have been saved. You can update your cookie settings at any time on the cookies page.
Sorry, there was a technical problem. Please try again.
This site is a beta, which means it's a work in progress and we'll be adding more to it over the next few weeks. Your feedback helps us make things better, so please let us know what you think.
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 204-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 14th February 2024 as follows:
1) Over the past 5 years, how many death by suicides have occurred after someone has been arrested.
2) Provide a breakdown of what offences had the individuals had been arrested for, prior to death by suicide.
3) Out of those who died by suicide after being arrested, what percentage were men, women and other?
4) Out of those arrested due to indecent images, how many died by suicide, and would have later had the investigation dropped due to insufficient evidence.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience that this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that the requested information is not held in a readily retrievable format. There is no specific identifier within the PSD system which would allow easy retrieval of the requested information. The business area has advised that there are 190 records, during the stated time frame, which would need to be reviewed on an individual basis to determine what information is held. They have advised that this would take approximately 15 minutes per record, which would equate to in excess of 46 hours of work.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please treat this letter as the Refusal Notice I am required to provide to you in respect of your request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act, I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request where possible. However, due to the volume of records involved, I am unable to suggest a way to revise your request into one which could be undertaken within the fees limit unless you were to reduce the time period to a lesser period of, say one year.
Outside of the Act, and in order to provide assistance, I can advise that the IOPC publish ‘apparent suicides following police custody’ within the ‘Annual deaths during or following police contact report’ which is broken down by individual police forces. However, the introduction to the statistics, as set out below, should be noted:
‘Apparent suicides following time in police custody are included in these statistics if they happen within two days of the person’s release from custody. They are also included if experiences in custody may have been relevant to the death, and the death was referred to the IOPC. The police may not always be told about an apparent suicide that happens after time in custody as the association may not be clear. Therefore, there may be more deaths in these circumstances than are reported here. The term ‘suicide’ does not necessarily relate to a coroner’s verdict. Verdicts are still pending in most cases. We include these cases only after considering the nature of death and whether the circumstances suggest that it was an intentional, self-inflicted act. For example, a hanging, or where there was some evidence of ‘suicidal ideation’, such as a suicide note.’
Please find the relevant link set out below:
Publications Library | Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC)
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB