Regulating Police Detention

Custody visitors are volunteers who, under a statutory scheme, make unannounced visits to police custody blocks and check on the welfare of detainees, in all parts of England and Wales. This book analyses custody visiting by reference to three principal issues. The first issue is the impact of official policy, based on archival and desk research, which shows that the police and the Home Office have ensured that the visiting scheme causes the least trouble to the police, sidelining any concerns about deaths in custody. A detailed local case study is used to analyse the second and third issues, independence and effectiveness. Because the visiting scheme is controlled by the Police and Crime Commissioner, and the visitors are trained with no input from influences other than the Commissioner and the police, custody visiting has no independence; and the case study also shows that, principally because of the power of the police, the monitoring work is not effective. The fundamental power imbalance between the police and visitors is a characteristic shared by all schemes, which is why the book’s conclusions can be applied generally. Custody visiting, ineffective in its present form, could be an effective regulator of police behaviour in custody blocks, if it were radically reformed. The book makes detailed proposals for the necessary reforms, with an explanation of the political context that could make that a reality.