Manawatu Police have been reviewing how officers search people in custody, following a Police watchdog report

An 18-year-old Palmerston North man was arrested last year, after evading police for about nine months.

Officers fired a sponge-round rubber bullet at the man after he attempted to flee, which the Independent Police Conduct Authority says was justified.

However, the teenager then harmed himself in custody with a cell phone cord left in his tracksuit pants, that wasn't taken by officers.

The IPCA's found the search was deficient and inadequate.