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30
Oct 2024
North Yorkshire Police reveals amount paid in compensation for false imprisonment
North Yorkshire Police has revealed how much it has paid in compensation for false imprisonment over the last few years.
The figure was provided in a response to a freedom of information request published on the force's website.
The request asked specifically for the amounts paid in civil compensation for unlawful detention and/or arrests over the last five financial years.
In total, £83,466.26 has been paid in compensation for files opened under false imprisonment over the last five financial years. That works out at more than £16,500 each year.
According to the police, this includes – but is not exclusive to – cases of unlawful arrest, excessive detention, excessive force used and unlawful stop and search methods.
'We need to protect the public and ourselves'
The Stray Ferret asked North Yorkshire Police if the figure raised questions about the force's methods of policing.
A police spokesperson replied:
The police are charged with maintaining order and keeping people safe. To do this, we sometimes encounter violent, aggressive or dangerous individuals.
So, we may need to detain them to protect the public and ourselves from harm and to enforce the law.
Officers are trained and permitted by law to detain suspects in certain circumstances. The following are some official strategies. They are approved for use by police forces across the country:
- Using limb restraints, such as handcuffs or leg cuffs.
- Unarmed use of force including striking offenders, physical restraint, takedowns and applying pressure to specific 'pressure points' on the body.
Officers have documented protocols and procedures for the safe, efficient and appropriate allocation of detainees, the spokesperson said, adding officers also receive regular training to ensure they use force appropriately, legally and in line with national policing policies.
Concerns over use of force can be reviewed by the police's professional standards department, or the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
The spokesperson also said:
We are not able to provide details on the specific reasons why compensation was paid but it can cover a myriad of reasons. A claim may include allegations of an unlawful arrest; while we might consider that the arrest is lawful, there may be cases where the detention is too long, or excessive force has been used, and this might be the reason for the compensation.
Likewise, we might consider that the arrest is entirely lawful, but we may have an issue with a witness and may consider it too much of a risk to proceed, therefore it wouldn’t necessarily have been paid because the arrest itself is unlawful.
Civil compensation claims could also relate to incidents not associated with use of force or arrests.
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