Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 17, Issue 4 , Pages 209-212, May 2010

Health screening in police custody

  • Iain McKinnon, MBBS MRCPsych (Academic Clinical Fellow in Forensic Psychiatry, Specialty Trainee (ST4) in Learning Disability Psychiatry)

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +44 191 223 2454; fax: +44 1670 394011.
    • ,
  • Don Grubin, MD FRCPsych (Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, Honorary Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist)

Received 24 August 2009; received in revised form 26 October 2009; accepted 4 February 2010.

Abstract 

Background

There have been few previous studies on the health needs of police detainees. London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) uses health screening procedures which have not yet been evaluated. The objective of this study is to determine the extent of health problems and ‘mental vulnerability’ in detainees in police custody, and the efficacy of current health screening procedures.

Methods

Custody records from five London Boroughs were reviewed. Prevalence data for health problems and mental vulnerability was obtained from the anonymised records of 307 detainees who were referred to the Forensic Medical Examiner (FME). Data were analysed for the identification of physical and psychiatric morbidity.

Results

Injuries, epilepsy and asthma were the most common physical health problems noted. Drug and alcohol issues were also frequently encountered along with depression and self-harming behaviour and suicidal ideation. Morbidity was lower than that reported in other, interview based studies. Less than 2% of detainees were thought to require an Appropriate Adult to be present during police interview.

Conclusions

A significant amount of health morbidity is present among detainees in police custody. Our findings suggest that current police screening procedures detect only a proportion of this. Further research is warranted to evaluate the effectiveness of health screening in police custody.

Keywords: Health screening, Disease prevalence, Mental disorders, Vulnerable populations, Custody detainees

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PII: S1752-928X(10)00007-7

doi:10.1016/j.jflm.2010.02.004

Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine
Volume 17, Issue 4 , Pages 209-212, May 2010

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