Police admit deficiencies in custody training
The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the Police Federation have admitted that there are deficiencies in the training of many custody officers, particularly in regard to dealing with mental illness sufferers.
Both were giving evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into Deaths in Custody.
67 people died whilst in police custody in 2003.
The committee is due to report before the end of the year, prior to the expected publication of a joint Home Office, ACPO and Crown Prosecution report into the handling of persons in custody in February.
Jan Berry, chair of the Police Federation, said that prevention of deaths in custody depended on training, particularly in retraining of custody officers, and also on the number of custody officers.
Ms Berry said custody officers are not trained to deal with alcohol and drugs misuse and that basic fist aid training is in decline. She said cells are not suitable for the detention of mentally ill people and that there are not enough qualified staff to deal with them.
She commented that “there needs to be more of a learning culture” within the force and suggested that training should be made mandatory, as is the case with firearms.
Ms Berry argued that the closure of hospitals and the ambulance service’s common refusal to transport violent people had put excessive pressure on the police.
Assistant Chief Constable David Warcup, speaking for ACPO, also warned about the problems of detaining mentally ill people, saying: “We don’t want to take people who have problems to custody suites”. However, he argued that custody suites were often the only available “place of safety” as the police force was the only agency to provide a 24/7 service.
He called for this to become a “multi agency issue” with more robust protocols.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Roberts warned in stronger terms that: “We end up with people in care that we are not qualified to deal with”.
He argued though that it is not practical to train custody officers in healthcare.
Nick Hardwick, chair of the Independent Police Complaint Commission (IPCC), which is tasked with investigating deaths in custody, told MPs that he believed the new organisation is gaining public confidence “more quickly than we’d hoped for.”
However he admitted that the organisation is still not yet fully independent and it is still a case that police investigate themselves.
Mr Hardwick remained confident that “we can create the kind of professional working relationships where together we can achieve common objectives.”
