Despite a body of research on the dangers of certain restraint holds, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) says no restraint techniques are prohibited, as long as an officer can show the use of force was proportionate.
Commander Bob Broadhurst, who was ACPO’s lead on self-defence and restraint until September 2011, said: ‘The restraint of individuals is an extremely challenging, but necessary, part of modern policing. Officers will use restraint to safely resolve potentially violent situations where an individual presents a danger to themselves or others.
According to the IPCC, between 1998 and 2009, there were 16 deaths in which restraint was a direct or contributory factor.
‘Each situation and individual a police officer will encounter is different, and so we do not proscribe which particular techniques [an officer] should use, as common law allows officers to use proportionate force to defend themselves or effect an arrest.’
The current ACPO lead on restraint, Commander Simon Pountain, said: ‘Officers are required to make split-second decisions in difficult situations. Where an individual is violent and represents a danger to themselves and the public, the police are rightly expected to restrain them for their own safety and to protect other members of the public.
‘We have sought advice and guidance from Home Office, the medical profession and used learnings from IPCC investigations to best equip officers to respond to extremely violent, manic and agitated individuals.
‘Foremost in officers’ minds is the safe resolution to volatile situations, not a medical diagnosis.'
A technique which is cited as a factor in so called ‘deaths in custody’ is what is known as ‘prone restraint’. It involves forcing a suspect face-down onto the floor, cuffing their hands behind their back and then putting pressure on their torso, shoulders and neck.
For example, an officer may pin the suspect’s body to the floor with a knee on their back, and another may immobilise the suspect’s head by kneeling on their neck.
Stricter guidelines
In comparison, there have been only two deaths following restraint in the prison service in the last 15 years. Experts suggest this is because stricter guidelines on the use of prone restraint were introduced during the mid-1990s following a spate of restraint-related deaths in prisons.
Prison service rules now state that ‘a prisoner must never [original emphasis] be kept in the prone position with their hands held behind their back in ratchet handcuffs’.
