Annual

Custody Visitors’ Statistics

2013/2014

Report produced by: Statistics and Research Branch, Northern Ireland Policing Board

May 2014

Data extracted: 7 May 2014

Trim: 239844

1

Summary Please note that figures quoted are provisional and are subject to revision. During the period April 2013 to March 2014, the following station availability, had a direct effect on the number of visits made by the Teams:

Strabane was open at weekends from 19th October 2012 to 31

st May 2013.

Antrim SCS was closed from 20th to 24

th May 2013. Grosvenor Road was used instead.

Limavady was closed between the 2nd

to 27th September for refurbishment. Waterside was

operational during this time.

Strand Road was closed between 7th and 16

th October 2013 for essential maintenance.

Stranbane was operational during this period. Waterside operational for Bail cases during weekdays from 10am to 6pm.

Antrim SCS announced visits commenced for S41 detainees from 16th September 2013.

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory visits (pages 2 to 5)

There were a total of 857 visits made between April 2013 and March 2014.

21 visits were incomplete (2%), thus there were 836 valid visits.

792 of the 836 valid visits were classified as satisfactory (95%), 44 (5%) were classified as unsatisfactory.

Based on the valid visits, the Antrim SCS team recorded the highest level of satisfaction (100%).

8% (10) of visits by the Down/Armagh team were recorded as unsatisfactory.

The three main reasons for unsatisfactory visits were faulty equipment (21), lighting (10) and sanitation (7).

Visits made (pages 6 to 7)

Just under one fifth of visits were made on Tuesday (166, 19%), followed by Monday (141, 17%). The least number of visits were made on Saturday (82, 10%).

Three tenths of visits were made between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. (255, 30%).

Nine tenths of visits (758, 88%) were made between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

Visits ranged from 2 minutes to 96 minutes.

The average length of time spent on each visit was 23 minutes.

Detainees (pages 8 to 10)

Of the 1,224 detainees held during this period, Custody Visitors saw 613 detainees, 61 refused to be seen and 550 were not seen for other reasons.

The most common reasons for detainees not being seen were asleep (202), being interviewed (170) and with solicitor/GP/appropriate adult (61).

The overall refusal rate for April 2013 to March 2014 was 5% (61 refused).

There were a total of 835 (68%) custody records checked by Custody Visitors.

Delays (pages 10 to 11)

There were 27 occasions when Custody Visitors were delayed for more than ten minutes, generally due to the Custody Staff being busy.

Antrim Serious Crime Suite (page 12)

20 (three announced) visits were made to the Antrim Serious Crime Suite, at the time of the visits 15 detainees were held. Five detainees were seen, 7 refused and 3 were not seen for other reasons (asleep/intoxicated etc.).

2

Part One – Monitoring the treatment of detainees in line with PACE, human

rights provisions and Code of Ethics

Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory visits

Custody Visitors made 857 visits during April 2013 to March 2014, 14% more than the number of visits carried out in April 2012 to March 2013 (753). Of these, 21 visits were not carried out for various reasons (see Table 3) and were deemed to be incomplete. Custody Visitors classified 792 of the 836 valid visits (95%) as satisfactory. Besides Antrim SCS the North-West team recorded the highest level of satisfaction (97%). The Down/Armagh team recorded the highest level of unsatisfactory visits (8%).

Table 1: Number of valid visits made to each Station, April 2013 to March 20141

Team Station Satisfactory

visits

Unsatisfactory

visits Valid visits

Belfast/Antrim

Grosvenor Road

60 3 63

Musgrave Street 108 5 113

Antrim2 56 2 58

Bangor 65 10 75

Musgrave St G8 4 0 4

Antrim G8 3 0 3

Sub-total 296 20 316

Down/Armagh

Lisburn 42 0 42

Banbridge 37 8 45

Lurgan 41 2 43

Sub-total 120 10 130

North-West

Ballymena 36 1 37

Coleraine 49 0 49

Limavady3 27 4 31

Strand Road4 63 0 63

Waterside 12 0 12

Sub-total 187 5 192

Tyrone/Fermanagh

(Ty/Fer)

Dungannon 57 1 58

Enniskillen 46 4 50

Omagh 55 4 59

Strabane5 5 0 5

St Lucia G8 6 0 6

Sub-total 169 9 178

Antrim SCS

Antrim SCS 17 0 17 Antrim SCS (Announced)

6 3 0 3

Sub-total 20 0 20

Valid visits 792 44 836

1 These figures exclude the 21 incomplete visits.

2 Antrim SCS was closed from 20

th to 24

th May 2013. Grosvenor Road was used instead.

3 Limavady was closed between the 2

nd and 27

th September for refurbishment. Waterside was

operational during this time. 4 Strand Road was closed between 7

th and 16

th October 2013 for essential maintenance. Strabane was

operational during this period. Waterside was operational for Bail cases during weekdays from 10am to 6pm. 5 Strabane was open at weekends from 19

th October 2012 to 31

st May 2013.

6 Antrim SCS Announced visits commenced for S41 detainees from 16

th September 2013.

3

The incomplete visits are shown by station and team in Table 2.

Table 2: Incomplete Visits by Station and Team, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Station Total

Visits

Incomplete

Visits

Percentage of

Visits Incomplete

Belfast/Antrim

Grosvenor Road

69 6 9%

Musgrave Street 114 1 1%

Antrim 58 0 0%

Bangor 76 1 1%

Musgrave St G8 4 0 0%

Antrim G8 3 0 0%

Sub-total 324 8 2%

Down/Armagh

Lisburn 43 1 2%

Banbridge 46 1 2%

Lurgan 44 1 2%

Sub-total 133 3 2%

North-West

Ballymena 38 1 3%

Coleraine 50 1 2%

Limavady 32 1 3%

Strand Road 63 0 0%

Waterside 15 3 20%

Sub-total 198 6 3%

Tyrone/Fermanagh

(Ty/Fer)

Dungannon 58 0 0%

Enniskillen 52 2 4%

Omagh 59 0 0%

Strabane 6 1 17%

St Lucia G8 6 0 0%

Sub-total 181 3 2%

Antrim SCS

Antrim SCS 17 0 0%

Grosvenor Road SCS 1 1 100%

Antrim SCS (Announced) 3 0 0%

Sub-total 21 1 5%

Valid visits 857 21 2%

The reasons for the 21 incomplete visits are shown in detail in Table 3.

4

Table 3: Reason why visits were not carried out, April 2013 to March 2014

Date Custody suite Reason why visit was not carried out

09-Apr-2013 Bangor Custody staff were extremely busy.

16-Apr-2013 Waterside Custody suite being refurbished.

23-Apr-2013 Grosvenor Rd Custody Suite closed due to repair work.

05-May-2013 Grosvenor Rd Custody suite busy.

21-May-2013 Grosvenor Road SCS No entry to suite permitted due to IT issues.

27-May-2013 Grosvenor Rd Visit aborted due to Custody Visitor name not forwarded to station.

08-Jun-2013 Strabane Informed Custody Suite closed until September.

10-Jun-2013 Enniskillen Other Custody Visitor had gone to Omagh rather than Enniskillen as arranged.

11-Jun-2013 Grosvenor Rd Custody Visitor was refused access, his name was not on PSNI internal list.

12-Jun-2013 Lurgan Custody Suite was shut due to G8 summit. The details communicated to us was that the suite was shutting from the 13-06-13. Suite was shut early.

19-Jul-2013 Grosvenor Rd Custody suite has been closed since Thursday 18 July.

21-Aug-2013 Waterside Custody Suite Closed.

31-Aug-2013 Musgrave St Visit cancelled. Custody Visitor’s car broke down.

03-Sep-2013 Limavady Custody Suite closed.

17-Oct-2013 Waterside Custody Suite closed.

30-Oct-2013 Ballymena Closed for Deep Cleaning.

14-Nov-2013 Banbridge Custody suite busy.

13-Dec-2013 Enniskillen Other Custody Visitor did not arrive.

30-Jan-2014 Lisburn Custody suite was closed - security informed us at front gate.

11-Feb-2014 Coleraine Custody suite closed due to drain damage, unable to gain access.

11-Feb-2014 Grosvenor Rd Custody suite busy.

Total visits not carried out: 21

5

Reasons for concern7

A full list of reasons for concern regarding the treatment of detainees is given at table 4.

Table 4: Reasons for concern regarding treatment of detainees by Team:

April 2013 to March 2014

Reason Belfast/

Antrim

Down/

Armagh

North-

West Ty/Fer

Antrim

SCS Total

Tre

atm

en

t/R

igh

ts

of

Deta

inees

Checks on detainees carried out 0 0 0 0 0 0

Review of detention 0 0 0 0 0 0

Being told their rights 0 0 0 0 0 0

Legal advice 0 0 0 0 0 0

Code of Practice 0 0 0 0 0 0

Informing somebody 0 0 0 0 0 0

Requiring an appropriate adult 0 0 0 0 0 0

Requiring Interpreter 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 0 0 0 0 0 0

Healt

h a

nd

Well B

ein

g

Oxygen checks 1 0 0 0 0 1

Adequate bedding 0 0 0 0 0 0

Access to loo/washing 0 0 0 0 0 0

Medical attention 0 0 0 0 0 0

Adequate food and drink 0 0 0 0 0 0

Dietary needs 0 0 0 0 0 0

Replacement clothing 0 0 0 0 0 0

8 Hours rest in 24 0 0 0 0 0 0

Exercise 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 1 0 0 0 0 1

A full list of reasons for concern regarding the conditions of detention of detainees is given at table 5.

Table 5: Reasons for concern regarding conditions of detention:

April 2013 to March 2014

Conditions Belfast/

Antrim

Down/

Armagh

North-

West Ty/Fer

Antrim

SCS Total

Faulty Equipment 7 6 3 5 0 21

Sanitation 6 0 0 1 0 7

Safety/Security Hazards 0 4 0 1 0 5

Cleanliness 0 0 1 0 0 1

Lighting 7 1 1 1 0 10

Heating 0 0 0 2 0 2

Ventilation 0 0 0 0 0 0

Alarm 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 20 11 5 10 0 46

7 Total of reasons in Tables 4 & 5 may sum to more than total of unsatisfactory visits because of

multiple reasons for some visits.

6

Part Two - Monitoring the effectiveness of the scheme

Visits made

Custody Visitors made 857 visits during April 2013 to March 2014, 104 more than in April 2012 to March 2013 (753). Table 6 shows the number of visits made to each station during April 2013 to March 2014. Active stations for which the monthly target number of visits were not equalled or exceeded are indicated in italics, as are those Teams that did not equal or exceed the monthly target number of visits for all stations in their area.

Table 6: Number of visits made to each Station, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Station Guideline number of

visits8

Actual Number of

visits

Belfast/Antrim

Grosvenor Road 60 69

Musgrave Street

120 114

Antrim 60 58

Bangor 84 76

Musgrave St G8 7 4

Antrim G8 7 3

Sub-total 338 324

Down/Armagh

Lisburn 36 43

Banbridge 48 46

Lurgan 60 44

Sub-total 144 133

North-West

Ballymena 36 38

Coleraine 48 50

Limavady 31 32

Strand Road 60 63

Waterside 12 15

Sub-total 187 198

Tyrone/Fermanagh

Dungannon 48 58

Enniskillen 48 52

Omagh 60 59

Strabane 8 6

St Lucia G8 7 6

Sub-total 171 181

Antrim SCS

Antrim SCS 24 17

Grosvenor Rd SCS Not Applicable 1

Antrim SCS (Announced) Not Applicable 3

Sub-total 24 21

Total visits 864 857

8 Guideline Number takes into account any station closures.

7

Just under one fifth of the 857 visits were carried out on Tuesday (166, 19%), followed by Monday (141, 17%), the least amount of visits were carried out on Sunday (84, 10%) and Saturday (82, 10%).

Table 7: Days of visits, April 2013 to March 2014

Day Belfast/

Antrim

Down/

Armagh

North-

West Ty/Fer

Antrim

SCS

Number

of visits %

Monday 55 19 36 26 5 141 16%

Tuesday 69 25 37 32 3 166 19%

Wednesday 37 33 36 18 8 132 15%

Thursday 40 26 24 27 4 121 14%

Friday 42 22 28 38 1 131 15%

Saturday 28 3 23 28 0 82 10%

Sunday 53 5 14 12 0 84 10%

Total 324 133 198 181 21 857 100%

Nine tenths of the visits (758, 88%) were made between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. (a 12 hour period). Between 9 p.m. and 9 a.m. 99 visits (12%) were carried out (a 12 hour period). Three tenths of all visits (255, 30%) were carried out between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. One visit took only 2 minutes, while the longest visit took 96 minutes. The average length of a Custody Visitor visit was 23 minutes.

Table 8: Times of visits, April 2013 to March 2014

Time Belfast/

Antrim

Down/

Armagh

North-

West Ty/Fer

Antrim

SCS

Number

of visits %

0.00 – 9 am 4 2 0 3 0 9 1%

9 am – noon 73 14 57 65 4 213 25%

Noon – 3 pm 52 16 42 36 2 148 17%

3 pm – 6 pm 41 25 50 21 5 142 17%

6 pm – 9 pm 124 58 35 31 7 255 30%

9 pm – 24.00 30 18 14 25 3 90 11%

Total 324 133 198 181 21 857 100%

8

Detainees seen by Custody Visitors There were 1,224 detainees held at the time of these visits, of which Custody Visitors saw 613, 61 detainees refused to be seen, and 550 detainees were not seen for other reasons.

Table 9: Team activity, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Valid

Visits

Detainees

held

Detainees

seen

Detainees

refused

Detainees not seen

– other reason

Belfast/Antrim 316 632 342 28 262

Down/Armagh 130 169 78 5 86

North-West 192 265 114 12 139

Ty/Fer 178 143 74 9 60

Antrim SCS 20 15 5 7 3

Total 836 1,224 613 61 550

Reasons for not seeing detainees Table 10 shows a full list of the reasons why detainees were unable to see Custody Visitors.

Table 10: Reasons for detainees not seeing Visitors, April 2013 to March 2014

Reason Belfast/

Antrim

Down/

Armagh

North-

West Ty/Fer

Antrim

SCS Total

Asleep 98 21 53 30 0 202

Being interviewed 77 39 39 13 2 170

With solicitor/GP/appropriate adult 33 9 12 6 1 61

Refusal 28 5 12 9 7 61

Being processed 9 7 5 2 0 23

Attending hospital/court 9 2 6 1 0 18

Abusive/dangerous 15 3 8 3 0 29

Intoxicated/drugs 8 1 10 4 0 23

Other/Unknown 8 1 3 1 0 13

Being discharged 5 3 3 0 0 11

Permission refused by appropriate

adult 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 290 91 151 69 10 611

9

Refusal rates Table 11 shows the refusal rate by custody suite (calculated as the number of detainees who refused to be seen as a percentage of the number that were held in custody at the time of the visit). The overall refusal rate for April 2013 to March 2014 was 5%, this is identical to the corresponding period of 2012/2013. Excluding the Antrim SCS (15 held and 7 refused), the refusal rate was highest in the Tyrone/Fermanagh team (6%, 143 held and 9 refusals). The refusal rate was lowest in the Down/Armagh Team (3%, 169 held, 5 refusals).

Table 11: Refusal rate by custody suite, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Station Valid

Visits

Detainees

held

Detainees

refused

Refusal

rate (%)

Belfast/ Antrim

Grosvenor Road 63 78 1 1%

Musgrave Street

113 309 21 7%

Antrim 58 68 1 1%

Musgrave St G8 75 161 5 3%

Antrim G8 4 13 0 0%

Bangor 3 3 0 0%

Sub-total 316 632 28 4%

Down/Armagh

Lisburn

42 42 1 2%

Banbridge 45 71 3 4%

Lurgan 43 56 1 2%

Sub-total 130 169 5 3%

North-West

Ballymena 37 39 1 3%

Coleraine

49 66 3 5%

Limavady 31 26 0 0%

Strand Road 63 132 8 6%

Waterside 12 2 0 0%

Sub-total 192 265 12 5%

Tyrone/Fermanagh

Dungannon 58 46 1 2%

Enniskillen 50 37 3 8%

Omagh 59 55 5 9%

Strabane 5 5 0 0%

St Lucia G8 6 0 0 0%

Sub-total 178 143 9 6%

Antrim SCS

Antrim SCS 17 10 5 50%

Grosvenor SCS 0 0 0 0%

Antrim SCS (Announced) 3 5 2 40%

Sub-total 20 15 7 47%

Total 836 1,224 61 5%

10

Custody records checked

There were a total of 835 custody records checked by visitors. This means that the Custody Visitors checked the custody records of 68% of detainees who were seen or were not seen because they were asleep/intoxicated/on drugs etc.

This ranged from 70% in both the Belfast/Antrim and North-West teams to 33% in the Antrim SCS team.

Table 12: Custody Records Checked, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Valid Visits Detainees held Custody records

Checked

Percentage

Checked

Belfast/Antrim 316 632 445 70%

Down/Armagh 130 169 104 62%

North-West 192 265 185 70%

Ty/Fer 178 143 96 67%

Antrim SCS 20 15 5 33%

Total 836 1,224 835 68%

There were 172 detainees who refused a visit or were not seen for other reasons, but allowed their custody records to be checked.

Delay to visits

Of the 836 valid visits made during April 2013 to March 2014, there were 27 (3%) occasions when Custody Visitors were delayed by more than 10 minutes and these are detailed in table 14. The reasons for delay are taken from the CV2 forms.

Table 13: Delays to visits by Team and Station, April 2013 to March 2014

Team Station Total number of delays greater than 10 mins

Belfast/Antrim

Grosvenor Road

5 Musgrave Street 7

Antrim 1

Bangor 5

Sub-total 18

Down/Armagh

Lisburn 2

Banbridge 1

Lurgan 1

Sub-total 4

North-West

Ballymena 2

Strand Road 1

Sub-total 3

Tyrone/Fermanagh

Dungannon 1 St Lucia G8 1

Sub-total 2

Total valid visits (which were delayed) 27

As shown in table 14, the main reason cited for the delays to visits was Custody staff were busy.

11

Table 14: Reason for delays to visits, April 2013 to March 2014

Date Time delay

(mins) Custody suite Reason for delay

09-May-2013 15 Antrim Staff involved with DP in SCS.

13-Jun-2013 14 St Lucia G8 St Lucia was only being set up with staff and they were out training and had to find a Custody Sergeant to open. up.and show us round.

14-Jun-2013 15 Bangor Mix up between reception and custody suite.

25-Jun-2013 16 Grosvenor Rd Reason for delay - detainee being booked in.

05-Jul-2013 18 Musgrave St Reason for delay - Violent detainee - self-harming- being restrained.

06-Aug-2013 12 Ballymena Delay due to a review being done with inspectors due to a juvenile with appropriate adult.

08-Sep-2013 13 Grosvenor Rd Reason for delay: Custody staff busy.

10-Sep-2013 26 Musgrave St Reason for delay; Changeover time for staff.

27-Sep-2013 15 Ballymena Staff did not come for Custody Visitors.

06-Oct-2013 20 Dungannon Custody Visitors were not given access due to DP being intoxicated and posing a risk to self.

09-Oct-2013 24 Musgrave St Staff busy.

12-Oct-2013 15 Grosvenor Rd Custody staff were not informed about Custody Visitors.

22-Oct-2013 33 Banbridge Very busy and communication issue at reception.

29-Oct-2013 14 Bangor Staff very busy on arrival.

31-Oct-2013 15 Musgrave St CDO dealing with DP on drugs.

05-Nov-2013 40 Strand Rd Custody Visit very busy/violent detainee.

14-Nov-2013 30 Lisburn Custody Sergeant pre-occupied as custody suite full.

15-Nov-2013 18 Lurgan Reception & custody suite very busy.

29-Nov-2013 25 Musgrave St Very Busy.

12-Dec-2013 30 Bangor Handover of staff.

24-Dec-2013 20 Bangor Custody Staff busy booking someone in.

12-Jan-2014 20 Grosvenor Rd Checking in detained person.

26-Jan-2014 15 Grosvenor Rd Called during changeover.

07-Feb-2014 25 Lisburn Changeover of staff and miscommunication.

15-Feb-2014 15 Musgrave St Custody suite busy.

25-Mar-2014 20 Bangor Custody suite full.

26-Mar-2014 20 Musgrave St Custody suite very busy.

Total valid visits (which were delayed): 27

12

Antrim Serious Crime Suite During April 2013 to March 2014, 20 (three announced) visits were made to Antrim Serious Crime Suite. There were 15 detainees held at the time of these visits, of which visitors saw five. Seven detainees refused to be seen, and three detainees were not seen for other reasons. Four detainees gave consent for their interview to be observed. None were observed.