Further improvement needed in Gwent Police’s custody services, says inspectorate
Gwent Police needs to ‘urgently’ improve the oversight of its custody services and how it manages risk to keep detainees safe, the police inspectorate has said.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that Gwent Police has a clear approach to diverting children away from custody. Frontline officers have a good understanding of what makes a person vulnerable, and they take account of this when deciding whether to make an arrest or deal with the incident in another way.
However, HMICFRS and CQC said that the force has limited scrutiny of custody, which means that there are some “critical weaknesses” in how the force provides custody services.
Inspectors found that some of the recommendations from the force’s previous inspection have not been achieved or have only partly been achieved, leaving some key areas of custody needing urgent attention.
The inspectorates have two main causes of concern:
- There are limitations in the way the force oversees its custody services. There is not a performance framework for custody, underpinned by the range of data needed to help the force effectively scrutinise its custody provision; and
- The force’s risk management is not good enough. It does not always follow authorised professional practice (APP) guidance, and it does not consistently carry out its risk management practices to the required standard.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said: “Anyone detained in custody should be kept safe from harm and treated fairly.
“Gwent Police has a clear governance structure for providing safe and respectful custody services. Custody personnel are respectful, and they show empathy and understanding in their interactions with detainees.
“However, in some areas progress has been limited, and improvements are needed. For example, the force has no performance framework or regular performance scrutiny to assess how well it provides custody services. This means it can’t identify any underperformance and therefore can’t put in place measures to make improvements over time.
“And while the force generally identifies detainee risk well, it doesn’t always follow APP guidance for risk management. We have identified these areas as causes of concern.
“We will be working closely with Gwent Police and monitoring its progress in managing its custody facilities against our new recommendations.”