Deaths in police custody: a question of health or discipline?

This paper addresses the issue of deaths in police custody. The role and effects of ‘proactive’ and ‘reactive’ policing in addressing suicidal and non‐suicidal deaths is considered. Failings in the training and public accountability of police services and forensic medical examiners are discussed. Some of the past failings, it is argued, seem set to continue in the face of the Secrecy Bill (1999).