Technology safeguards welfare of detainees

Lincolnshire Police is the first force in the UK to roll out Siemens’ new custody suite solution, a security system which helps safeguard the welfare of people in police custody.
Complying with the requirements of the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) safer detention guidance, it enables the police to monitor the health and safety of detainees throughout the detention process.
The system has CCTV cameras located at critical points, such as the booking-in desk, intoxiliser room, live-scan room, detention rooms, cells, corridor areas, exercise yard and van docking station. These can be integrated into the police IT infrastructure so that archived or real-time digital video and audio recordings can be monitored, either on site or remotely by designated personnel.
Stewart Brinn, acting chief inspector, Lincolnshire Police, said: 
“We have CCTV cameras located in key internal areas including the cells and corridors. These feed into a central control area in the charge room where live audio and visual recordings can be accessed on screen.
“Although the CCTV facility will never eliminate the need for physical cell checks, it does support our team in other ways. For example, being able to provide solid material evidence of a specific sequence of events will prove invaluable should the actions of any of our officers ever be called into question.”