Recommendation - West Yorkshire Police, September 2022
Recommendation date: 30 September 2022
Response due: 25 November 2022
Published: 31 January 2023
Child sexual abuse
Death and serious injury
Welfare and vulnerable people
We identified organisational learning from a local death or serious injury report after a suspect in a child sexual abuse case took their own life while under investigation. The Officer in Charge (OIC) took the appropriate safeguarding action when the suspect was released from custody. However, force policy states that there should be an ongoing risk strategy and that there are certain trigger points in an investigation that may mean that the risk of self-harm is increased. The OIC does not appear to have known about this policy, which is concealed within the force's policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People.
Recommendations (1)
Recommendation 1
Accepted
Recommendation
The IOPC recommends that West Yorkshire Police devises supplementary guidance on safeguarding suspects during child sexual abuse investigations. At present the guidance is contained within force policy on Safeguarding Children and Young People. We recommend that the guidance is embedded … Read more
Force Response
Accepted action: The recommendation has been accepted by the Force. As a result, a supplementary guidance document has been created by the Safeguarding Central Governance Unit. The Guidance Document has been embedded into all relevant policies under the heading of … Read more