Calls for new cordon laws after suicide
A senior Derbyshire Constabulary officer has said that there is a need for new legislation around the police use of cordons.
A senior Derbyshire Constabulary officer has said that there is a need for new legislation around the police use of cordons.
Chief Superintendent Andy Hough spoke out after 17-year-old Shaun Dykes took his own life after jumping from the sixth floor roof of a shopping centre.
Although officers attempted to stop people coming inside the cordon, a lack of powers meant that some were able to be inside the cordons, and then encouraged the teenager to take his own life.
Chief Supt Hough said it was essential that officers have increased powers to enforce cordons, as in this situation, officers were limited in what they could do.
In these circumstances, officers were relatively powerless because Mr Dykes was not committing a crime.
Chief Supt Hough said: We dont have any formal legislation that allows us to put on cordons in circumstances like that. While we have legislation that allows us to use certain powers that will breach peoples rights, in this case we didnt have those powers because it wasnt a crime scene.
The case has caused wide-scale condemnation of those onlookers who urged the teenager to jump while a police negotiator was trying to help him.