Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

The Act

Commentary on Sections

Part 5: Miscellaneous

Section 160 and Schedule 12: Investigations: deaths and serious injuries after contact with the police

417.This section gives effect to Schedule 12 which amends Part 2 of the Police Reform Act 2002 to bring a new category of cases under the jurisdiction of the Independent Police Complaints Commission. The new category, ‘death or serious injury matters’, will cover cases where persons have died or been seriously injured following some form of direct or indirect contact with the police and there is reason to believe that the contact may have caused or contributed to the death or serious injury. They will be cases that do not involve a complaint or a conduct matter when first identified and categorised. Such cases may relate to the direction and control of a police force, which would normally be excluded by section 14 of the Act.

418.Paragraph 12 of Schedule 12 amends Schedule 3 to the 2002 Act to ensure that this new category of cases is recorded and referred to Independent Police Complaints Commission for a determination regarding investigation under paragraph 15 of Schedule 3. On completion of the investigation, a final report into a death or serious injury matter will be submitted and the Independent Police Complaints Commission may make recommendations or give advice under section 10(1)(e) of the 2002 Act (paragraph 24 of Schedule 12). Where the investigation reveals a conduct matter (a criminal or disciplinary offence), the matter will be treated as a conduct matter from that point forward under Schedule 3 to the 2002 Act. Thus, disciplinary proceedings may be brought.