Custody visits by members of the public failing to hold police to account

source: The Conversation
published: 30 April 2018

Custody in police stations is a very locked-down affair. People who have been arrested and are detained spend most of the time isolated in their cells. Custody visitors, the only outsiders who get to see the detainees, are neither respected by the police nor trusted by the detainees.

“My recent research has revealed serious problems in the system of monitoring police custody, now known as the Independent Custody Visiting Scheme. This scheme, run locally by Police and Crime Commissioners, enables members of the public to make random, unannounced visits to check on the welfare of the detainees in police custody” [says author, John Kendall].

7 September 201721 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Police officers face punishment after IPCC’s report into Ellis Downes investigation

source: Oxford Mail
published: 5 September 2017

Police were ‘unprofessional’ in the aftermath of teenager Ellis Downes’ tragic death, an investigation has found.

Three police officers at Thames Valley Police will face misconduct ‘meetings’ after the Independent Police Complaints Commission released its report this morning.

Harwell 16-year-old Ellis drowned in the River Thames in Culham on May 7, 2016, after getting into trouble while swimming.

29 September 201621 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Police body cameras ‘cut complaints against officers’ says research

source: BBC News
published: 29 September 2016

Police body cameras can dramatically reduce the number of complaints against officers, research suggests. The Cambridge University study showed complaints by members of the public against officers fell by 93% over 12 months compared with the year before.

Almost 2,000 officers across four UK forces and two US police departments were monitored for the project. Dr Barak Ariel, who led the research, said no other policing measure had led to such “radical” changes.

The study aimed to find out if the use of cameras, which are usually clipped to the top half of an officer’s uniform, affected complaints against police made by the public.