Black people die disproportionately after contact with police, new figures show

Police chiefs and government ‘continue to deny problem of structural racism’, charity warns

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Black people are more likely to die following contact with the police than their white counterparts, new data from a police watchdog suggests.

Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said 10 per cent of people who died during or following contact with the police across the UK during 2020/21 were Black which is is over three times their population in the UK (3 per cent).

Of 92 deaths following police contact that were investigated by the IOPC last year, 10 were those of Black people. Six of the ten Black people were of Caribbean heritage, one was from an African background, one was classed as ‘Black other’ and the other unknown.