Student custody visitors training for England, Wales and Northern Ireland

Pre-Session

History
Human Rights articles and references
Police and Criminal Evidence Act (PACE)

History

There have been several key events and milestones that have contributed to the development of independent custody visiting and these include:
• The Civil Disorders of 1981
• The Scarman Report of 1981
• The Police & Criminal Evidence Act 1984
• The European Convention on Human Rights
• The Police Reform Bill 2002

Other influential reports include:
• The Police Complaints Authority Report: Deaths In Police Custody 1998
• The Lay Visiting To Police Stations Home Office Report 1998
• The MacPherson Report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry of 1999

Civil Disorders 1981

During the first half of 1981 several outbreaks of unrest occurred in major cities throughout the country in Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, the West Midlands and London. The most significant of these disorders took place in Brixton between the 10th and 12th of April when hundreds of young people attacked property and the police.

The cause of these disorders centred around people protesting about oppressive policing and in particular the alleged harassment of people, especially young black people, by the police – in short, these incidents were anti-police and voiced a lack of trust in the law and order authorities.

After days of unrest, these serious incidents led to the government ordering an urgent inquiry and appointing Lord Scarman to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the events.

The Scarman Report

The resulting investigation – the Scarman Report – included several recommendations about reforming the law, community relations and policing practices to help tackle the central problems which caused the civil disorders.

As part of these recommendations, Lord Scarman advocated a system for members of the public from local communities to inspect the way the police detained people in their custody.
Originally referred to as lay visiting, independent custody visiting is the system that has been developed to meet this recommendation.

The Police & Criminal Evidence Act

At the time, the majority of the Scarman Reports’ recommendations, found favour with the opinion makers and were included in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act which was made law in the mid-1980’s. This act of parliament set out the way in which the police officers must carry out their roles and stated specific codes of practices for police procedures. It also established the rights of people who are detained by the police for a suspected crime or offence.

Specifically, Code C of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act deals with the Detention, Treatment and Questioning of Persons by Police Officers and contains detailed procedures for the police to follow.

These guidelines and codes of practice provide a way of measuring actions taken by the police and a means of checking that people being detained are treated properly. The Police and Criminal Evidence Act – PACE – is a major reference for independent custody visitors as they carry out inspections of police custody suites.

Click here for summary of PACE code C

European Convention on Human Rights

In the year 2000 European Human Rights Legislation was adopted within the United Kingdom & there are significant implications for all involved in the custody visiting process. In particular, the legislation requires that:

•Detainees are treated according to UK legislation and that their basic human rights are being respected.
•Independent custody visitors are aware of appropriate human rights articles and that they perform their duties in accordance with them.
•Police authorities operate their recruitment and selection policies having regard to the European Human Rights.

Click here for Human Rights Articles and References

The Police Reform Act 2002

Section 51 of the Police Reform Act makes custody visiting a statutory obligation for Police Authorities in England and Wales. Codes of practice have also been introduced to provide further clarification about the roles and responsibilities of those involved in the custody visiting process.

It should be noted that the Independent Custody Visiting process was made statutory in Northern Ireland under article 73 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000.

Other Related Reports

Other related reports consider specific areas of police practice and procedures and, in doing so, they also have implications for the development of the independent custody visiting process:

The Police Complaints Authority ‘Deaths in Police Custody’ Report of 1998 makes specific recommendations about procedures to reduce the deaths of people detained by the police and pays particular attention to the treatment of vulnerable detainees.

The MacPherson Report on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry makes a series of recommendations about the police treatment of minority ethnic groups.

A series of Home Office Circulars have also influenced the general development of Independent Custody Visiting, including ‘Lay Visiting To Police Stations' of 1998(also known as the Police Foundation Report) and the Circular 15/2001(this circular, in affect, been replaced by Section 51 of the Police Reform Act 2002).