Police HIV Investigations

posted: 19/08/2010

The key guides for the police investigation of claims of HIV transmission are now available freely on the web. George House Trust helped NAT's work with the Association of Chief Police Officers on these guides.

The police realised that they were reinventing the wheel every time they began a new investigation and that some investigations could be done very much better.

These new guides mean police should now always investigate allegations of criminal HIV transmission in a way which is:
• consistent with Crown Prosecution Service prosecution policy for HIV prosecutions
• well informed about HIV, from both a clinical and a social point of view
• respects human rights and confidentiality
• timely and does not prolong investigations.
 

It's all on POLKA

The complete Guidance is available to all police officers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland via the Police Online Knowledge Area (POLKA) hosted by the National Police Improvement Agency.

Key papers available to all 

NAT now have on their website the key documents so that people with HIV, and organisations supporting people with HIV, know what the police should be doing and best police practice.

• Police Investigation flowchart: This flowchart sets out the whole investigation process
• HIV Key facts: This tells the police key information on HIV, including basic biological and clinical facts, information on PEP, HIV testing, HIV treatments and discrimination issues
• Accused under 18?: This alerts the police how to take special care where the accused is under 18
• Communication Strategy: This guides police about publicity during and after investigations, confidentiality and media relations
• Evidential Flowchart: This key document sets out the evidential steps that must be covered in any investigation, to help avoid unnecessary intrusion and ensure the appropriate evidence is collected. They can't move on to the next invetigation stage until they have collected the necessary evidence. 
• Initial contact with STI / GUM clinics: This advises police to use STI / GUM clinics to contact any new people of interest to them rather than by the police making contact and shocking unprepared people with the news that they may have HIV
• NAT is preparing a simple Q&A on police investigations for people with HIV, which will soon be available on the same NAT webpage.

Hepatitis investigations too

Similar guidance for investigating possible cases of Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C transmission is also available. Contact NAT for these.

Police HIV investigation guidelines

These guidelines are a response to the Policing Transmission report.

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