Relatives of people who have died after contact with the police have told of their distrust in and dissatisfaction with the ability of the complaints system to help deliver justice.
“I feel the IOPC is there to shut families up and make us believe there is a thorough investigation,” said Carla Cumberbatch, sister of electrician Darren, who died at the age of 32 in July 2017 after he was punched up to 15 times, beaten with a baton, sprayed with CS gas and Tasered multiple times by officers.
They had been called to a bail hostel in Nuneaton, west Midlands, while he was experiencing a mental health crisis – behaving “irrationally” in a toilet bloc, according to the coroner.
An inquest jury said that police use of “considerable restraint” on Cumberbatch contributed to his death and was “at times probably avoidable”.
Officers, one of whom reportedly admitted making incorrect statements on police notes after the event and copying another officer’s notes word for word in his account of the incident, have not faced disciplinary consequences, but probation staff are to receive more training to de-escalate situations.
The watchdog’s initial statement, two days after Cumberbatch died and 11 days after the incident, said only that he had become “unwell” in police presence and criticised “unhelpful” speculation.
“It was like talking to a wall,” Cumberbatch’s sister said. “The way I was spoken to was disgusting. I was originally told it could take up to eight months to investigate, but over three years on we’ve still got no report; it took two years to get to an inquest.”
It is rare for the IOPC to recommend the suspension of officers, though it did so initially in 2017 in the case of Rashan Charles, who died in east London. Video footage showed an officer who held him breaching police standards on detention and restraint.
However, the Metropolitan police said regulations stated that an officer under investigation should not be suspended if temporary redeployment to alternative duties was appropriate.
The police officer was placed on office duties before the watchdog eventually concluded that the “unorthodox” restraint used against the 20-year-old did not amount to misconduct as his failures were not deemed to be deliberate.
Criticism of the watchdog’s response to Charles’ death has been led by his great-uncle, retired former Met Ch Insp Rod Charles, who said the watchdog simply echoed the Met’s version of events. Writing for OpenDemocracy, he said: “In its first statement, [it] claimed: ‘The man became unwell and first aid was provided by a police officer, police medic and paramedics.’ These accounts mislead by omission.
“They fail to mention that a police officer at the scene heavily restrained Rashan, with help from a second man. Instead they direct attention towards Rashan’s own actions.”
Kevin Clarke, who had serious mental health issues, died after he was restrained by police in March 2018 in Lewisham, south-east London. Nine Met officers were placed under unspecified restricted duties while under investigation by the IOPC.
In police body-cam footage of the incident, Clarke can be heard telling officers: “I can’t breathe … I’m going to die.” One officer told the inquest, which concluded recently, that he believed the restraint – applied because Clarke was “a bit fidgety” lying on the edge of a school playing field – was necessary and safe.
However, his family said he was “restrained unnecessarily and with disproportionate force” and that police officers were among those who “let Kevin die”.
The Met agreed that seven of the officers had a case to answer for misconduct after the watchdog said the continued use of handcuffs and limb restraints once Clarke was unconscious was “unnecessary and disproportionate”.
They were dealt with by the force “by way of practice requiring improvement” through identifying any organisational and individual learning and reflecting on what happened, the IOPC said.
Cumberbatch is still waiting for the IOPC investigation into her brother’s death to be published. “If I punched you 15 times, there would be a criminal investigation, but nothing has been done about it,” she said. “No restricted duties, no suspensions, no desk duties, no misconduct, nothing. I struggle to understand after a serious incident why officers are not interviewed immediately to prevent conferring.
“Who do you call when police are the killers? The IOPC, many of whom are ex-police officers. In an ideal world I’d like to have justice, but what is justice? Even where unlawful killing has been ruled by an inquest, some officers have been able to return to duty.”