Listening to people’s views and experiences of police custody

Aim

We were commissioned by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) to gather the views of children, young people and adults who have been detained in police custody, either in relation to suspected crimes or mental health issues. The key issues explored in this research were:

• routes into police custody and what, if anything, could have prevented detention;
• what happened at each stage of the custody pathway;
• whether, and in what way, detainee’s rights were explained, upheld and respected;
• whether, and in what way, detainee’s needs were identified and responded to; and
• views of what worked well, what could be improved and how this could be achieved.

Publication

The findings of our research can be found in Annex F of HMIC’s report on the welfare of vulnerable people in police custody, here. 

Background

Our work contributed to HMIC’s thematic inspection on the welfare of vulnerable people in police custody.

The Home Secretary asked that the inspection focus on, but not be limited to, children and young people; people with mental health needs; and people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

Methods

We carried out 28 qualitative interviews with children and young people, and adults who have mental health needs or who are from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.