The use of force in custody by Wiltshire Police is 'concerning'

View of the outside of the Melksham Police Station

Inspectors are concerned about the use of force in police detention facilities.

It was listed as one of two "areas of concern" in a report that was released after Wiltshire Police visited suites.

Although there had been some improvement since the previous visit, the report found that more needed to be done.

After inspectors visited the custody suites in Swindon and Melksham in November, it was published. The results were welcomed, according to Wiltshire Police.

The Care Quality Commission and His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducted the inspection.

According to the inspectors, Wiltshire Police's control over the use of force "isn't good enough.".

Their report stated, "It hasn't improved since our last inspection and is now a cause for concern.".

"Some data is incorrect, incidents aren't always accurately or even completely recorded on custody records, and not all staff members involved in an incident fill out the necessary use-of-force forms. ".

It was advised that the force closely examine instances of use of force to ensure that it was "necessary, justified, and proportionate.".

Due to a lack of staff, inspectors also voiced health concerns about the visitors brought into the suites.

Mitie Care has recently been used by Wiltshire Police.

This meant that not enough medical professionals were available to see detainees quickly or occasionally at all. ".

According to inspectors, routine detainee monitoring did not always occur and medication was not always administered when it should have been.

However, they added, "good monitoring arrangements" had been in place, and new staff had been hired.

Working with Mitie Care was advised for Wiltshire Police.

Inspectors gave staff high marks for how they handled the release of detainees, particularly for providing a "good level of care" and ensuring that vulnerable adults and children, in particular, made it home safely.

Also found to be "clean and well-maintained" were the custody suites in Melksham and Swindon.

Leader for Crime Standards and Justice Supt. Guy Elkins stated, "I welcome the findings of today's HMICFRS report following a visit by inspectors in November.

The report contains a number of crucial recommendations on how we can enhance the support we offer in our custody suites.

"To address these issues, we have already begun implementing a number of changes to our working procedures and are modernizing our systems. ".

In order to enable greater scrutiny and oversight of the use of force, he claimed that Wiltshire Police was using a new software platform.

We have also implemented new oversight procedures, and complaints involving the use of force are now reviewed as part of our monthly custody performance meetings, where we can easily spot trends and growth opportunities, the official continued.

He said that if excessive force was used, it would either be addressed during training or reported to a committee overseeing professional standards.

Source link

You've successfully subscribed to Webosor
Great! Next, complete checkout to get full access to all premium content.
Welcome back! You've successfully signed in.
Unable to sign you in. Please try again.
Success! Your account is fully activated, you now have access to all content.
Error! Stripe checkout failed.
Success! Your billing info is updated.
Billing info update failed.