NEW figures have shown two people committed suicide last year following contact with North Yorkshire Police.

The figures were part of a report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, entitled Deaths During or Following Police Contact , which looked at forces across England and Wales.

The report claimed there had been two suicides by people who had recently been released from custody of North Yorkshire Police between April 1 2013 and March 31 2014.

Those figures include apparent suicides by people who have been arrested or detained under the mental Health Act, and make up one in 34 of the total around the country in that time period.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said the force would consider the report to see if there were any lessons to be learned.

He said: "At North Yorkshire Police we take the safety of people who have been taken into custody very seriously, and we report any instances of death following contact with the police to the IPCC in accordance with our statutory obligations. Our current policy on dealing with people who we believe may consider self-harm or suicide following release from custody, is based on lessons learned and recommendations from past investigations and IPCC reports.

"Prior to a person’s release from custody we will in all cases carry out a face-to-face assessment, and in some cases where we believe there may be a particular risk, we will also bring in a mental health professional to assist an assessment. Regrettably though, despite all these measures, there are still some instances where people who have been in custody do take their own lives after being released. We welcome the IPCC’s report and we will be reading it very closely to see if there are any new lessons we can learn."

The report also showed there had been no fatal crashes, shootings or deaths in custody involving North Yorkshire Police.