From The Guardian UK

Watchdog expresses concern over potential racial discrimination – and frequency with which officers are called by parents struggling to discipline children

A disproportionate number of people of African-Caribbean descent are being held in police cells and strip-searched, according to an official report, which also warns that children and vulnerable adults are being placed in custody because their families, health and social services cannot cope.

It also found that the number of calls to the police from parents struggling to discipline their children was on the rise.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC)’s report on the treatment and welfare of vulnerable adults and children in custody in England and Wales says it “considers forces are at risk of discriminatory strip-search practices”, though inspectors did not observe any on-the-ground difference in the treatment of those from black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds when they visited six of the 43 police forces in the two countries.

The report, commissioned last year by the home secretary, Theresa May, concludes that these forces “did not have sufficient data and other information to demonstrate to the communities they service that all people who come into contact with the police are treated fairly and safely”.

It adds: “While 3% of the population was from African-Caribbean groups in the forces we inspected, people from these backgrounds represented 9% of the custody throughput, and 17% of those strip-searched.”

Although inspectors say that most strip-searches they observed were undertaken appropriately, they add that research into what those detained thought, conducted for HMIC by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), found “a strong view that strip-searches were undignified and degrading”.

Those interviewed by NatCen did not always agree strip-searching was justified, and some, including children, had agreed to remove clothing to avoid it being forcibly removed by police officers and staff.

The inspectors were also concerned by measures used to reduce the risk of self-harm, such as the removal of clothing or use of handcuffs and body belts. “The measures of control the police presently have at their disposal are designed more for those who are violent through ill will, rather than those who are agitated because of mental distress, or who are frightened children.”

This could add to the risk of further distress and harm and ultimately be fatal, said the report, which warned that “police officers are trying to respond to children and those suffering from mental health crises in an environment and with policing tools, skills and knowledge that are wholly unsuited to the task”.

Previous research has shown that people from BME backgrounds are disproportionately represented in the number of stop and searches and arrests.

The report adds also to more general concern that vulnerable people are being locked in cells and sometimes unnecessarily criminalised because police custody is being used as a substitute for health and social care.

It says frontline officers often take emergency calls from hospitals and care home staff unable to cope with patients, and from parents struggling to discipline their children.

Among those placed in police cells was a 90-year-old patient with dementia who was arrested after being violent toward staff and damaging property, the report says. Others held by police include a girl who had fought with her sister over a TV remote control and a 17-year-old boy who had pushed his stepfather and damaged a garden fence.

A recent joint review by the Department of Health and the Home Office recommended there should be a new law ensuring that police cells should never be used for under-18s with mental health problems, and for adults only in exceptional circumstances when an individual’s behaviour is so extreme they cannot otherwise be safely managed.

HM Inspector of Constabulary Dru Sharpling said that though police generally responded to the challenge of protecting vulnerable people, “it is clear police custody provision has to improve to ensure that vulnerable people are safeguarded effectively and, where appropriate, diverted from the criminal justice system.

“Each public service must fully discharge its responsibilities to ensure that police custody does not become the default option for vulnerable people in need of care.”

Checks were made on Cleveland police, Leicestershire constabulary, the Brent, Barnet and Harrow areas of the Metropolitan police in London, North Wales police, Surrey police and West Mercia police.

May had asked the inspectors to look at the treatment of children, those who were mentally unwell and people from ethnic backgrounds who might be vulnerable because of their minority status.

The home secretary said the report “makes clear how much more remains to be done to ensure that those who end up in police cells, especially those in custody for their own safety, receive proper treatment and respect”.

May added: “I have always been clear that the use of force must be lawful, proportionate and necessary in all the circumstances, that people experiencing a mental health crisis should receive health-based care and support rather than being held in a police cell, and that children charged with an offence should be transferred to suitable local authority accommodation instead of being detained overnight.”

Work on improving information on the use of police powers in relation to people with mental health issues and the use of force were already under way, said May.

Norman Lamb, the Liberal Democrat health and social care minister, said: “I’ve been very clear that I want to ban the use of police cells for under-18s who need mental health care and that cells should only be used for adults in exceptional circumstances.”

Lamb said: “Nationally the use of police cells has already dropped by nearly a quarter this year and so far this year for under 18s the use of police cells has fallen by nearly a third. I will continue to push for further progress.”

“Street triage” arrangements under which mental health nurses accompany police officers on the beat now operate in a number of areas. The Department of Health says the indications are that detentions in police cells under mental health law in these areas have now almost been eradicated.

IMAGE: A young black male is arrested by police. People of African-Caribbean descent are being disproportionately held in police cells and strip-searched, finds the report. Photograph: Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures James Meikle and Rebecca Ratcliffe

For more on this story go to: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/10/afro-caribbeans-more-likely-to-be-strip-searched-by-uk-police