Custody inspection report - Highland and Islands

1. Custody is delivered throughout Scotland by the Police Scotland Criminal Justice Services Division (CJSD). This division is one of several national divisions which sit alongside and support the thirteen local policing divisions. Custody is delivered in accordance with the custody standard operating procedure, which is updated and amended regularly to reflect changes in practice guidelines and expectations

2. National custody throughput fell to a relatively low level due to the Covid-19 pandemic, however, this has fluctuated in recent years as indicated in the table below.

Table 1 - National custody throughput[2]

Table 2 - Custody centre cell capacity and throughput

3. Custody centres in Scotland are organised into clusters, each led by a cluster inspector. The Highland and Islands local policing division covers the local authority areas of Highland, Na h-Eileanan an lar (formerly Western Isles), Shetland and Orkney. There is one primary custody centre in the division, which is located within Inverness police station. It is the only location where CJSD custody staff are based.

4. Our inspection focused on the primary custody centre in Inverness, and ancillary centres in Fort William, Wick, Stornoway (Isle of Lewis), Lerwick (Shetland), and Kirkwall (Orkney). Inverness was undergoing renovation at the time of our inspection, which in addition to upgrading the general infrastructure, included the re-purposing of some cells and improvement of others.

5. The Highland and Islands division sits within the Sheriffdom of Grampian, Highland and Islands. Within the Sheriffdom there are two court districts, Aberdeen and Inverness, however boundaries differ from those adopted by Police Scotland. Inverness includes the sheriff courts at Fort William, Kirkwall, Lerwick, Lochmaddy, Stornoway and Wick.

6. The division also covers the aforementioned health boards – NHS Highland, NHS Western Isles, NHS Shetland and NHS Orkney – that have responsibility for the oversight of healthcare services delivered within the respective custody centres inspected.

7. There are ten small ancillary custody centres, each located within a local police station. These centres do not have dedicated CJSD custody staff. When a person is detained, trained local policing officers are required to assume custody responsibilities. When this happens, these officers and the management of the custody centre fall under the remote supervision of the custody sergeant who is based at Inverness. The custody sergeant assumes primacy in terms of responsibility, regardless of the rank of the officer in the ancillary centre.

8. A chief inspector based at Inverness is responsible for custody in Highland and Islands and the North East division area. There is also a cluster inspector for the Highland and Islands area. At the time of our inspection, there were five teams each comprising two sergeants based at Inverness who observe the CJSD 222b^[3] shift pattern. There were four staff teams, each comprising a criminal justice police custody and security officer (CJPCSO) team leader and five CJPCSOs. They work on a twelve-hour^[4] shift pattern, however at the time of our inspection, this was subject to a consultation process with a view to aligning them with sergeants.

9. We were informed that CJSD strategy is currently being reviewed following the introduction of the Police Scotland 2030 custody project. Current strategic aims are to improve communication with local policing regarding the provisions of the Criminal Justice Act (2016). The appointment of a new scrutiny and audit sergeant has improved communication between CJSD and local policing and, with the input of custody review inspectors, has increased, to a degree, the level of scrutiny applied to custody delivery. While this increased evaluation represents an improvement on previous methodology, case sampling remains relatively modest compared to the total volume of national custody throughput.

10. Custody staff reported that custody leaders presented a strong message of the importance of care and welfare and accident prevention concerning detainees, and making sure detainees are treated with dignity and respect. CJSD is reviewing the findings of the Baird Inquiry into Greater Manchester Police to identify and adopt relevant learning, in relation to strip searches, with the aim of improving practice and providing staff with guidance on the necessity and proportionality of such searches.

11. We were advised of a key strategic partnership between police and the Highland Custody Link Project, part of the Highland Third Sector Interface. The project coordinates multiple support services directed towards specific risk groups in custody, such as women, those in elevated risk related age ranges, and people experiencing custody for the first time. The project has been recognised for its success in providing effective care and support in the region and is reflective of positive strategic partnership collaboration.

12. We also found that NHS Highland was a key partner in the North of Scotland Forensics and Custody Healthcare Alliance, often referred to as the TAY initiative. This alliance included NHS Grampian, NHS Tayside, NHS Orkney, NHS Shetland, and NHS Western Isles. This was established to address the unique challenges of delivering consistent forensic and custody healthcare services across rural and remote areas, and we consider the model to be good practice.

Independent custody visitors

13. Under the Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012, the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) is required to make arrangements for independent custody visitors to monitor the welfare of people detained in police custody. Regular visits to custody centres are carried out by volunteer independent custody visitors from the local community. Independent Custody Visiting Scotland (ICVS) manages the process and coordinates volunteers. Any concerns identified by custody visitors are raised with custody staff during their visits and outcomes are recorded in custody records. ICVS is also a member of the UK NPM.

14. During our inspection, we reviewed the ICVS service book that is completed following each visit by the custody visitors. This reflected a pattern of recent and regular visits at Inverness with no significant issues raised. Visits to ancillary centres were sporadic and infrequent.

[2] Annual throughput data differs from that previously reported. This is because Police Scotland have adopted new audit software and data recording rules.
[3] The CJSD 222b pattern relates to custody staff working two early shifts, two late shifts and two nights, followed by four non-working days.
[4] CJPCSO’s and team leaders work two days and two nights, each being twelve hours, followed by four rest days.