The Death or
Serious Injury Authorised Professional Practice (DSI APP) provides clear
guidance and greater support for officers and staff in England and Wales when
investigating incidents that do not involve the police use of firearms or
Conducted Energy Devices (Taser).
The new DSI APP
sets out clearly the steps that a force should take when reviewing serious
incidents involving members of the public and the legal protections which
investigating teams can consider for officers to help ensure their welfare is
looked after, as well as assisting with the investigation.
The new
guidance has been developed following consultation with the service over the
last two years and follows the publication last year of statutory guidance from
the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) on how the police service can
achieve best evidence in DSI matters.
The College’s
guidance acknowledges the IOPC document and mirrors the post-incident
procedures carried out in armed policing incidents, which have been used
successfully for many years, whilst recognising there will be operational
differences in the issues encountered by officers and staff.
The APP
provides guidance and direction intended to support forces in complying with
legal and procedural requirements and describes the investigative
considerations and obligations for forces that will ensure a transparent and
effective investigation in to what has happened.
It also sets
out considerations which should be taken into account around officer and staff
welfare and details the responsibilities which a number of key roles within
each force would have in responding to any death or serious injury incident,
from investigating officers through to chiefs.
These
principles would apply whether the incident was investigated by the force’s
professional standards department or by the relevant independent investigative
authority.
Richard
Bennett, uniformed policing lead at the College of Policing, said: “The new guidance has been designed to
support forces in providing consistent responses when dealing with any death or
serious injury incident following police contact.
“The previous
lack of guidance around how police forces dealt with non-firearms DSI incidents
was recognised as a significant vulnerability for the police, which we have
worked with them to address.
“Our guidance
will end the reliance of forces on using the proven successful firearms
procedures to investigate other serious cases, where the operational issues are
often quite different. It provides them with clarity around the steps
they should be taking to ensure that evidence is protected and gathered in a
transparent way and this in turn will help protect frontline officers and
support their wellbeing.”
Read the full national guidance on post-incident
procedures.