Wiltshire Police criticised for use of force in custody

The report also highlighted the problem of finding suitable accommodation for children who had been refused bail and said the use of custody for people with mental health issues was still unacceptably high.

Produced by HM Inspector of Prisons and the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, the report follows an unannounced inspection in December last year of custody suites at Melksham and Swindon.

“Force was not recorded, was sometimes disproportionate to the threat encountered and in some cases involved the use of leg restraints for people who were self-harming, which was inappropriate,” it said.

Officers were also found to be pointing their Tasers and red-dotting detainees.

“We saw more use of Tasers than we expect to see, especially in a controlled custody environment, and there was no force policy on their use in custody suites,” continued the report.

“Moreover, Tasers were used not by custody staff but by response officers who were in the custody suite at the time.

“Our expectation is that Tasers should only be used in exceptional circumstances and that use is proportionate to the threat posed. We were not confident that there was sufficient oversight of use of force.”

But inspectors praised the significant progress being made in reducing the number of mentally ill people detained in custody as a place of safety.

Treatment of detainees was also considerate and a suitable place had been provided for children to wait while going through the custody process.

A street project using a mental health worker in the communications centre providing advice to police on the street was singled out for praise.

Finding accommodation for children who had been charged and refused bail was still a problem and the issue of detained people having prolonged waits due to a lack of court availability had not been dealt with at a senior level.

Services for people with substance abuse problems had deteriorated considerably. Drug and alcohol workers did not visit often and there were long delays in referring detainees for help.

Supt Adrian Burt, the force head of crime standards and justice, said the report had a lot of positive things to say.

“We are particularly pleased that the improvements we have made have been recognised, most notably in the way we handle people with mental health issues and children in custody.”

But he said: “The areas for improvement are not a surprise to us and they are issues that we are aware of internally, and are already putting measures in place to tackle them.

“Police staff and officers sometimes find themselves in difficult situations where they have no option but to use some level of force to detain a suspect and protect themselves.

“However, that use of force should always be proportionate and lawful. It is worth mentioning that we are making every effort to record any use of force, but we are now in the process of assessing our practices to ensure this is always properly recorded in line with the way HMIC recommends police forces do so.”

Wiltshire Police is also working with the local authority to try to find accommodation for children more quickly and aiming to bring the substance abuse service back up to standard.

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus MacPherson said today he was concerned at the findings on the use of force.

“I believe that the use of Tasers and restraints in custody should only be in exceptional circumstances and should be properly documented afterwards," he said.

“I have asked Wiltshire Police for a detailed response which will be brought to the monitoring board which I chair.”

Wiltshire Police was reported to be making good progress in helping detainees with mental health issues.

“I look forward to the opening of mental health crisis beds at Green Lane in Devizes during this summer. This is a crucial service which must continue to be viewed as a priority within the NHS,” said Mr MacPherson.

He added that he had sympathy with social workers trying to find accommodation for children who had been remanded and would work with the youth offending boards in Swindon and Wiltshire to see what improvements could be made.