Use of Force - meeting minutes - January 2023

Attendees

Phil Dickson Earl (PD) – Chair

Renee Henry (RH) – Deputy Chair

Kim Taylor (KT)

Salateen Masih (SM)

Myrna Loy (ML)

Steven Bond (SBD)

Simon Cacioppo (SC)

Loveness Bishi (LB)

Lucia Scozzari (LS)

Brian Whitehead (BW)

Steven Quirke (SQ)

Arto Armagan (AA)

Steven Beer (SB)

Liz Ginns – (Observer)

Harley Scott – (Observer)

Natasha Loftus – (Observer)

Katie Beaumont (KB)

Hob Hoque (HH)

Karanjit (Vic) Sanghera (KS)

Welcome / Apologies / Introduction

Apologies

Nat Clewley (NC)

Marcella Smith (MS)

Lauren Cox (LC)

Peju Akintomide (PA)

Introduction

SM - Asked to be excused from the final part of the meeting. KB - Informed him that this is fine, and he has been noted as present, KB also thanked SM for attending the meeting.

KB informed the panel that we are expecting 16 attendees for this meeting.

PD - Said he will only ask 4 or 5 people per video for the sake of time.

Minutes of last meeting

PD - Asked for the agenda to be shown on the screen.

PD said he is mindful that there are a lot of videos to get through today, so he is going to recommend that we don’t go through the minutes bit by bit.

PD said everyone was sent the minutes in advance and if you’ve got any amendments, forward them to PD or KB.

If there are any specific points to discuss, please feel free so the panel can discuss them.

PD asked if this is okay with the rest of panel. They agreed.

Policing Update

HH - Asked PD if he can give two brief updates.

HH said firstly, he would like to thank the panel for the time they have taken out to review the Use of Force videos, and the seasoned members know that it is vital, and the new members will see that it is interactive today.

HH said as part of the ongoing process he has had the portfolio for 9 months and as part of it we have created an internal practitioner panel, meaning there is now an Internal Scrutiny Panel and we had the first meeting two weeks ago, where we got a group of frontline street cops to see the videos (the videos viewed at the previous UOF panel) and to check their understanding.

The police officers were given the same instructions as the Scrutiny Panel.

They followed the same processes, but they did not necessarily come out with all the gradings that we agree on come out in the standard Scrutiny Panels.
HH provided an a briefing on recent items.

Video 1 is shown:

Video 1

PD - Asked the panel to excuse themselves from the meeting if they recognise the person in the video. He proceeded to ask the panel to switch off their videos and microphones to reduce any interference.

KS - Gave the panel a brief overview of the subject of the video and reason.

The subject is XXXX from Bedford.

Force used: Non-compliant hand cuffing, which was done by the officer to prevent offending and protect the public.

Grounds: At 9pm a female reported to Bedfordshire Police that she was kicked in the face outside of a pub in Dunstable.

Whilst on the phone there was a sound of a disturbance as the male tried to re-enter the pub.

An off-duty officer on scene intervened and arrested the male, the male was resisting and a short while later the on-duty officers arrived.

Discussion took place between the panel.

Voting:

• Green 2 - 9 votes
• Green 3 - 2 votes
• Red 9 - 1

Majority vote – GREEN 2

Video 2

KS- Gave the panel a brief overview of the subject of the video and grounds of arrest.

The subject is XXXX from Luton.

Forced Used: Non-compliant hand cuffing, ground restraints and other improvised actions to stop and search, protect other officers, themselves and prevent escape.

At approx 2am officers have been conducting high visibility patrols to tackle antisocial behaviour in the area and saw the male in Lennon court.

The male has seen the officers and ran up the ramp and two flights of stairs onto the second-floor balcony, officers followed and detained him under section 23 misuse of drugs act, after being detained the male started to resist being handcuffed which led to force being used.

Video 2 is shown.

Discussion took place between the panel.

Voting:

• Amber 6 – 10 votes
• Red 7 – 4
• Amber 4 - 2

Majority vote: AMBER 6

Video 3

Subject is a male named XXXX from Kempston, Bedford.

Force Used: Firearms aimed.

At approx 1am a female has called 999 and asked for the police as her husband had taken drugs and entered the vehicle with a gun.

He drove off whilst possibly hallucinating so the armed police have been deployed and began the journey to the location whilst receiving a debrief.

The female has been safeguarded and another member of the family has informed the police at approx.

1.30am that the husband was on his way home and armed police have attended to the address and performed a search of the property which yielded a negative result.

Armed officers have resided nearby the location as intelligence suggested that he would come back.

The vehicle the subject was in was spotted a short while later and the officers engaged with the vehicle and brought it to a stop and then forced was used.

Video 3 is shown.

Discussion took place between the panel.

Voting:

• Green 1 – 11 votes
• Green 2 – 3 votes

Majority vote - GREEN 1

HH - Explains that is the level of UOF in the video clip and invites NC and the Panel to discuss.

Discussion took place.

• 6 votes for Green 1
• 3 votes for Green 2
• 1 vote for Green 3

Majority vote – GREEN 1

Video 4

The subject is XXXX from Luton.

Force used: Unarmed skills and ground restraints

Grounds: To prevent harm to himself and Officers.

The male was arrested due to causing difficulties at a pub whilst under the influence of drink and drugs and has also broken the window to a vehicle belonging to the victim on arrival to custody.

The male was verbally aggressive, threatening and physically resisting officers. The male was taken straight to the cell for the safety of the officers, himself, and the staff in custody.

The male was searched whilst restrained on the floor in his cell and his corded trousers were removed. After the officers left the cell, the male was seen on CCTV kicking and banging on the cell door for a considerable amount of time and hitting his back against the wall.

At this point the officers re-entered the cell with a medical representative in custody and had to restrain him again and took him to hospital to get checked.

Video 4 is shown.

Discussion took place between the panel.

Voting:

• Green 1 – 10 votes
• Green 3 – 2 votes

Majority vote – GREEN 1

Use of Force Data

HH & KS displayed the data on the screen.

• 1743 Use of Force recorded in Q3 22-23 compared to 1734 in the previous quarter.
• 62.19% of total Use of Force resulted in arrest compared to 62.98% in the previous quarter. This has been gradually increasing over the last few quarters.
• 21 Officers were responsible for 16.47% (287) of Use of Force (they each had 10 or more UoF records). Of the 287, 70 were arrested but none were detained for mental health reasons.
• 49 Officers and 81 Subjects injured during Use of Force.

Any Community Issues

None

AOB

PD - Asked if there was any other business, to which the panel remained quiet, and PD took that as a no.

PD proceeded to close the meeting by thanking HH, KS and KB for organising the meeting.

Meeting ended at 21:03pm.