Shooting deaths in police custody

Abstract

Shooting deaths in police custody (including police and self-inflicted shootings) account for 30 percent of all deaths in police custody. This paper uses National Deaths in Custody Program data and coronial records to examine the circumstances of these deaths between 2006–07 and 2016–17.Shooting deaths in police custody were most likely to involve non-Indigenous men. Most decedents were in the process of being detained for a violent offence, were in possession of a weapon and had a history of mental illness. Almost half had used alcohol and/or drugs shortly before their deaths.