Deaths During or Following Police Contact
IOPC statistics for England & Wales, 2004/05–2024/25, across five categories — with a per-force breakdown. Every figure is taken directly from the IOPC's published tables.
Each year the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) publishes a definitive count of deaths that occurred during or following contact with the police in England and Wales. These figures represent real people who died, and each is the subject of the IOPC’s independent oversight. We reproduce the published numbers here, verbatim and source-linked, so they can be read in one place — we are not affiliated with the IOPC and add no commentary of our own.
The IOPC groups deaths into five categories, each with its own definition. The categories are not additive — they count different things and should not be summed into a single “total deaths” figure. Figures cover 2004/05 to 2024/25. The latest year is 2024/25 (published 2025-07-31).
Road traffic fatalities
26 in 2024/25(32 in 2023/24, ▼ 6)
Road traffic fatalities include deaths of motorists, cyclists or pedestrians arising from police pursuits, police vehicles responding to emergency calls and other police traffic-related activity.— IOPC definition
Fatal police shootings
2 in 2024/25(2 in 2023/24)
Fatal shootings include fatalities where police officers fired the fatal shot using a conventional firearm.— IOPC definition
Deaths in or following police custody
17 in 2024/25(25 in 2023/24, ▼ 8)
Deaths in or following police custody include deaths that happen while a person is being arrested or taken into detention.— IOPC definition
- Includes deaths of people arrested or detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; a death may occur on police, private or medical premises, in a public place, or in a vehicle.
Apparent suicides following police custody
60 in 2024/25(68 in 2023/24, ▼ 8)
Apparent suicides following police custody includes apparent suicides that happen within two days of release from police custody.— IOPC definition
- Also includes apparent suicides beyond two days of release where the period spent in custody may be relevant to the death.
Other deaths following police contact
50 in 2024/25(62 in 2023/24, ▼ 12)
Other deaths following police contact include deaths that follow contact with the police, either directly or indirectly, that did not involve arrest or detention under the Mental Health Act 1983 and were subject to an independent investigation.— IOPC definition
- In 2010/11, a change was made to the definition of this category. It now includes only those deaths following police contact investigated independently by the IOPC (previously the IPCC), so figures before and after 2010/11 are not directly comparable.
- The rise from around 2015/16 also reflects an expansion of IOPC investigative resource and capacity to carry out more independent investigations, which directly affects the number of these deaths reported.
How to read these figures
- The five categories use different definitions and are not additive — do not add them together into one number.
- Other deaths following police contact only counts cases independently investigated by the IOPC (since 2010/11), and the rise from ~2015/16 reflects expanded IOPC investigative capacity — so its trend is not a like-for-like measure over time.
- Annual and per-force numbers are small; year-to-year changes for a single force can move on one or two cases and should not be over-interpreted.
- For fatal shootings, where more than one force was involved in an incident the IOPC counts it under each force, so per-force shootings figures can sum to more than the national total.
By force (appropriate authority)
Fatalities recorded against each force over the full period 2004/05 to 2024/25. For most categories these count only incidents where a single force was the appropriate authority; multi-force “other deaths following police contact” are listed separately (see below). Fatal shootings are the exception — where more than one force was involved the IOPC counts the death under each force, so that column can sum to more than the national total. Click a column heading to sort.
| Force / authority | Road traffic | Shootings | Custody | Apparent suicides | Other contact | Total ▼2004/05–2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metropolitan | 93 | 24 | 67 | 85 | 179 | 448 |
| Greater Manchester | 59 | 2 | 26 | 37 | 124 | 248 |
| West Midlands | 43 | 2 | 14 | 48 | 99 | 206 |
| West Yorkshire | 53 | 2 | 15 | 50 | 73 | 193 |
| Devon & Cornwall | 10 | 1 | 15 | 49 | 52 | 127 |
| Sussex | 20 | 2 | 7 | 48 | 40 | 117 |
| South Wales | 16 | 0 | 14 | 32 | 51 | 113 |
| Thames Valley | 22 | 1 | 12 | 38 | 36 | 109 |
| Northumbria | 14 | 2 | 17 | 44 | 30 | 107 |
| Lancashire | 18 | 0 | 10 | 38 | 36 | 102 |
| Kent | 16 | 3 | 11 | 34 | 36 | 100 |
| Hampshire | 8 | 0 | 9 | 42 | 33 | 92 |
| Avon & Somerset | 13 | 1 | 10 | 26 | 41 | 91 |
| Merseyside | 18 | 0 | 14 | 18 | 41 | 91 |
| South Yorkshire | 19 | 0 | 9 | 30 | 32 | 90 |
| Staffordshire | 9 | 1 | 9 | 34 | 37 | 90 |
| Essex | 9 | 0 | 13 | 21 | 39 | 82 |
| West Mercia | 16 | 1 | 4 | 36 | 21 | 78 |
| Cheshire | 10 | 0 | 15 | 17 | 19 | 61 |
| Derbyshire | 10 | 1 | 12 | 15 | 23 | 61 |
| Humberside | 13 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 23 | 59 |
| Northamptonshire | 4 | 0 | 1 | 21 | 33 | 59 |
| Nottinghamshire | 12 | 0 | 8 | 19 | 20 | 59 |
| Surrey | 7 | 2 | 5 | 26 | 17 | 57 |
| Leicestershire | 9 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 28 | 56 |
| Hertfordshire | 11 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 20 | 55 |
| Lincolnshire | 6 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 21 | 53 |
| North Yorkshire | 5 | 0 | 4 | 25 | 19 | 53 |
| Cleveland | 5 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 14 | 47 |
| Norfolk | 8 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 47 |
| Suffolk | 2 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 17 | 47 |
| Gwent | 6 | 0 | 6 | 14 | 20 | 46 |
| North Wales | 3 | 0 | 8 | 18 | 17 | 46 |
| Dorset | 9 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 21 | 45 |
| Durham | 5 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 19 | 44 |
| Bedfordshire | 7 | 1 | 3 | 19 | 13 | 43 |
| Warwickshire | 10 | 0 | 7 | 13 | 12 | 42 |
| Wiltshire | 3 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 22 | 42 |
| Dyfed-Powys | 6 | 0 | 5 | 19 | 10 | 40 |
| Cambridgeshire | 4 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 14 | 38 |
| Cumbria | 6 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 8 | 38 |
| Gloucestershire | 3 | 0 | 2 | 13 | 19 | 37 |
| British Transport(non-territorial) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 21 |
| City of London | 1 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 9 |
| Home Office (UKBF/UKIE/UKVI)(non-territorial) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 6 |
| National Crime Agency (SOCA/NCA)(non-territorial) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| HMRC(non-territorial) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| Ministry of Defence Police(non-territorial) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
In addition, 39 “other deaths following police contact” over the period involved more than one force and cannot be attributed to a single force, so they are excluded from the per-force totals above.
Source: Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) — annual deaths statistics 2024/25 · time-series tables (ODS) · Open Government Licence v3.0. The IOPC oversees policing in England and Wales; Police Scotland (PIRC) and the PSNI (Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland) are overseen separately and are not included.