Increase in police-related deaths

Version 0 of 1.

There has been a rise in the number of people dying during or shortly after involvement with the police, new figures show.

A report from the Independent Police Complaints Commission into such deaths has shown that there were 118 fatalities in 2005/06.

This figure is up on the previous year's total of 107.

Five died after shootings, 48 were killed after road incidents and 28 died in or after being in police custody.

The remaining 37 died in a variety of situations, including self-inflicted deaths during sieges.

The annual report, published by the IPCC on Tuesday, showed there were 42 police-related traffic accidents which resulted in a fatality.

This compared to 43 in the previous year, but four more people died in 2005/06 compared to the year before as a result of the incidents.

Of these, 32 died after a police pursuit and seven died when a vehicle drove away from a patrol car or failed to obey an officer's request to stop.

POLICE INVOLVEMENT DEATHS 94 of 118 case were male101 were WhiteFive were AsianSeven were BlackFour were mixed raceOne 'any other ethnic group'

Males made up 40 of those who died in traffic accidents. Six of the deceased were from ethnic minority groups, and 16 were under the age of 21.

According to the IPCC, the five men shot by police ranged in age between 24 and 47 years and three of them were white.

The IPCC decided to be involved in the investigation of 95 of the 118 deaths, with the remainder being investigated locally by the force concerned.

IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick said it had been working on a system to try to reduce the deaths of those who become involved with police officers.

He said: "The IPCC would much rather prevent than investigate a death. Over the last year we have sought to reduce these figures in a number of ways.

"This includes developing a system that will collate, share and monitor recommendations from IPCC and police investigations into these deaths."