Recommendation - Devon and Cornwall Police, July 2021
On 3 July 2020, a woman approached police officers and informed them that she had just escaped from a house, where she had been held against her will and been threatened with harm if she did not give money to those at the address. Officers arrested all of those present at the address, including a woman, on suspicion of blackmail and false imprisonment. The woman was taken to custody. Following custody procedures, she was secured in a cell. CCTV footage from the custody suite indicates that approximately two hours later, a member of staff in the custody suite noticed the woman appeared to be having a seizure. He went to her cell where he found her unresponsive. Custody staff called an ambulance and paramedics took her to hospital where she died the next day.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Devon and Cornwall Police ensure that the time a check is conducted on a prisoner is recorded on the custody record in addition to the computer generated time shown when the update is added.
The detention officers at Charles Cross custody suite are allocated specific roles on a daily basis and one will be assigned to conducting checks on prisoners in detention. A Detention Officer who submitted a statement in relation to this investigation has explained that having completed all of the cell visits, they return to the main office to update the electronic detention logs for each person detained. The time on the log is recorded as the time the entry is made on the log and not the time the check was conducted.
Comparison between custody records and CCTV has shown that this results in a time discrepancy and it can appear from the custody record that the time between visits sometimes exceeds the minimum requirements which in this case were every 30 minutes.
The Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice (APP) states that the Custody Officer is responsible for managing the supervision levels of each detainee and they will need an accurate record to fulfil this responsibility. The APP also states that forces should put in place audit and inspection regimes of custody records that ensure (amongst other things) that notes are contemporaneous, or recorded as soon as possible. The actual time the visit took place will be required to meet this responsibility.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
DCI Lou Costin has changed roles and I am now Performing the role of the Appropriate Authority for Devon and Cornwall police.
I formally accept the recommendation.
Supt Ryan Doyle as the head of the custody department has provided the following response:
“The discrepancy between time of cell visit and the time it is shown on Unifi is caused by an inability in the system to change the actual time of visit, and so the time will always show the when the update was added.
Whilst we use Unifi there are three options: custody staff return to the custody desk to update after each individual visit; custody staff are issued with tablets/devices that allow updates to be added whilst away from the desk; custody staff are asked to record the actual time of visit in the free text.
Option 1 creates inefficiencies by increasing the time it takes to complete visits, and cause delays to these.
Option 2 requires investment which would be short-sighted as we are changing to the Niche custody system in Spring 2022.
As a result I will ensure that staff are briefed to follow Option 3. This will be an interim measure for the remaining lifespan of Unifi, and I will investigate how this issue can be avoided when we move to Niche.”
Further to this I will ensure that this action is formally recorded on the force Pentana system. This will ensure the action is allocated an owner and auditable should there be a further request to check progress when the Niche system is introduced in 2022.
Kind Regards
DCI Kevin TILL
20/07/21