Joint inspections of police custody facilities

Report: 13
Date: 2 April 2009
By: Chief Executive

Summary

This report provides Members with an outline of the progress being made to develop joint inspections of police custody facilities.

A. Recommendation

That

1. Members acknowledge the HMIC/HMIP inspection regime and note progress on the development of a joint inspection framework for custody;
2. agree that ICV co-ordinators attend ‘hot debriefs’ in place of borough link members, if the member is not available; and
3. the Chief Executive write to the Commissioner to inform him of the proposals outlined in this report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. Under the UN Optional Protocol (OPCAT - 2003), independent inspections of all places of detention must be undertaken. This includes all police custody facilities. In England and Wales, Ministers agreed that the inspection of police custody facilities will be jointly carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP).

2. The inspections have been piloted throughout 2008, with the final pilot inspection occurring by March 2009. Pilot inspection sites included Hillingdon, Islington and Southwark and these inspection reports are available on the HMIP website.

3. Throughout 2008 the MPS Custody Directorate have been conducting their own internal inspections of custody facilities and provision throughout London and are seeking to support boroughs to prepare for the new regime of unannounced HMIC/HMIP inspections. Recommendations from these internal inspections have been discussed with Borough Commanders and improvements sought where necessary.

The inspection process

4. The HMIC/HMIP inspections will focus on police custody suites. Members will be aware that Police Authorities own the estate that holds police custody suites in addition to having a statutory responsibility to ensure an effective Independent Custody Visiting (ICV) Scheme operates in their area.

5. These inspections should not be confused with inspections of Police Authorities, which are currently being piloted separately. While there may be a very small degree of overlap, the inspections of police custody facilities will focus solely on the force responsibilities in relation to custody provision.

6. From March 2009 the joint inspection regime will be fully operational. Inspections will be unannounced and 12 - 13 force inspections will be carried out each year.

7. The inspection framework has been developed following analysis of the sites inspected in 2008. The Association of Police Authorities has been actively involved in development of the framework; a copy of which is attached in Appendix 1 of this report. The framework has not been finalised and may still be subject to minor changes.

8. The APA is also working with the Inspectorate and ACPO on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The MOU will cover areas such as the visits, actions arising out of the inspections and any media issues arising from an inspection.

The MPS’s approach

9. Emerald Custody Directorate initiated a custody inspection process in January 2008. To date 24 BOCUs (45 custody suites) have been inspected. The Custody Directorate will have inspected all operational custody suites at least once by April 2009. The focus has been on 'safe detention' using the MPS Custody Standard Operating Procedures and the Guidance on the Safer Detention and Handling of Persons in Police Custody' (2006) as the benchmark. Lessons learnt from the HMIC/P inspections of summer 2008 have been incorporated into the inspection process, which continues to evolve to deal with any issues that arise.

10. Their reports and recommendations are provided to Borough Commanders and published on the MPS intranet site. Recommendations are graded high, medium or low and action plans are agreed to address any areas where improvements are necessary. BOCUs' progress towards these is monitored and a further intervention made where necessary. Where good practice is identified, this is promulgated to other BOCUs.

11. Commanders have received clear guidance on the areas which HMIC/P will inspect and what therefore needs to be in place locally to provide the best prospect of a successful inspection.

Implications for police authorities

12. In preparedness, police authorities have been invited to consider doing the following:

• Ensuring Chief Constables/ Police Forces are aware that from March 2009 inspections will be unannounced.
• Ensuring Police Forces and Authorities are familiar with the inspection framework
• Ensuring that the Police Authority is aware of the outcomes of any inspections and actions arising from them.

13. Police Authority Chairs or Lead members for Custody should be involved in the 'hot' de-brief that takes place immediately following the inspection.

14. It is suggested that if the link Member for the borough where the inspection takes place is not available, that the relevant ICV Co-ordinator participates in the process and provides a briefing to Members. Police authorities will also get sight of the provisional report, prior to it being published by the inspectorate.

15. In conjunction with the MPS press department, the MPA will need to consider how any media interest following inspection reports will be handled.

C. Race and equality impact

 The self assessment framework assesses how authorities deliver their statutory responsibilities and obligations under equalities legislation.

D. Financial implications

It is unlikely that the inspection itself will have direct financial implications for the authority, although there will undoubtedly be an opportunity cost in ensuring MPS is prepared.

E. Background papers

• Police Custody Inspection Framework

F. Contact details

Report author: Siobhan Coldwell, Head of Oversight and Review and Kerry McClelland, ICV Scheme Manager, MPA.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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