The Police Station in Blackpool was a state-of-the-art facility when it was built in the 60’s, however time and wear and tear have taken their toll. When completed, it had 31 cells and sufficient space to process those arrested. However, new demands, processes and equipment gradually took up the available space and a decision had to be made about increasing capacity. The option to build a completely new station was some way off being realised and an innovative approach had to be made. So the Division have rebuilt part of the suite, bought 10 extra cells and craned them into the exercise yard. It sounds simple, but nothing ever is!

Andrea Barrow arrived at Western division in April 2009 on promotion to Chief Inspector and is one of the firearms commanders. However, she wears a number of other hats that include ANPR, Road policing, Events planning, resource management and the custody unit.

What custody facilities were available to the force area up to the new ones being added?
Andrea Barrow    We have custody suites in all the nearby major population centres. In Northern Division we have a large suite of 24 cells in Lancaster and a small one in Fleetwood (10 cells). In the Southern Division we have a custody suite at Leyland (16 Cells) and Skelmsdale(14 Cells).  In Central Division we have a new custody suite in Preston (31 cells). Eastern Division has one 42-cell new custody suite and Pennine division has a new 27-cell suite in Burnley. Here at Blackpool, we had a suite with 31 cells and all ancillary rooms and facilities, all about 40 years old, rather cramped and showing its age. We were routinely transporting prisoners all over the county because of lack of capacity here. For example, during last weekend, we had to take prisoners through to Blackburn. A long way and when you realise that we have to send two officers with each prisoner and they are gone for 5 hours, it is highly inefficient and a poor use of resources. This has had a distinct impact on our performance as a Police force.

How did you decide what the increased capacity should be and will it be enough?

There has been talk of building a completely new station, however the funds for that are not likely within the next 5 years, so an increase to 42 is the next best solution. We also decided to change the layout of the present custody suite to streamline booking in and processing prisoners.

So are you upgrading the existing cells at all and are they compliant with the safer custody requirements?
Andrea Barrow    We have carried out full health and safety checks on them all, ensured that no ligature points exist and that they are fit for purpose, however they do look their age.

What was the timeline for all this to be done and who else was involved?
Andrea Barrow    Changing the layout was done after the summer rush last year. The extra 10-cell capacity is being completed as we speak. The layout alteration only had a three month window to get the job done in. So consultation was the key; I asked widely what people wanted. A better access and egress system was one of the most popular requests, also more space for the equipment, more interview and PACE rooms, extra observation cells and better line of sight from a new custody desk. A new cell buzzer system was also needed, as the present one seemed better suited to causing stress than attracting attention.  We now have a dedicated access route into the suite that has fingerprint recognition for access control. This means that officers do not have to press a buzzer to get in!

Closing the custody suite was essential then - So what preparation did you have to do?
Andrea Barrow    We knew that it could not be done in the summer season and the Project Manager Geoff Awde, advised us that there was an opportunity to get the work done in a three month window prior to Xmas 2009. However, we only had six weeks to plan it all! We closed on 1st September and opened on 23rd December.

That must have required some planning, what had to be done?
Andrea Barrow     We created a working group, sat down and solved the issues this created. We had to find the capacity within the Force area to hold the prisoners. We achieved this partly by re opening a 25-cell custody suite that had been de-commissioned when the new Police station at Preston was built. It was in a derelict building! We had to put a dedicated PACE inspector in and all the facilities that a custody suite requires. To get the prisoners there, we instigated a prisoner escort system that used a vehicle relay system. This was declared a Force-wide priority by Mr Whey, the ACPO lead on this. So arrested people were taken to a secure assembly point in Blackpool where they were driven to an agreed halfway point on the way to Preston by 3 dedicated vehicles. The drivers were changed, the documents were passed and then the same vehicle took the prisoners to the temporary custody suite in Preston. It worked superbly, however it could not have been done if it was not for the superb organisation and cooperation of the whole Force.

There are always hiccups during building. What were yours?
Andrea Barrow    A week into the build we found out that to remove a wall and support the ceiling required very extensive piling (18 of them in total) because the present building is built on the same sand as the beach! This put us back a week. However, the builders, a local company called Tysons were fantastic and caught the time up. At one time, there were 27 workmen on site at the same time. The electrical installation company was also superb.

Your final opinion on the work and building alterations?
Andrea Barrow    We only had three months to get the work done in and at one time I was concerned that we would over-run, However, when I saw the final job I realised we had exceeded expectations and it was going to be a great result. The only things that seemed awry was that we had omitted to put heaters in two of the interview rooms, but that was all.

What else did you decide was needed whilst the builders were in?
Andrea Barrow    We wanted a more efficient booking-in process and area. We used to have a cramped area with walls cutting across lines of sight. Desks crammed in, queues forming all over the facility. It was not efficient or as safe as it should have been. We have got everything we asked for and the better work-flow makes a huge difference. A lot of the credit for this achievement should go to the project team: it was headed by Tim Ewin, the CJS Manager. Also Sgt Mark Hilton, Sgt Graham Houston, John Cartwright the Facilities Manager and Kevin Holt the IT Manager. Not forgetting Geoff Awde and I. The second phase was the installation of the additional cells.

What made you decide to use modular ones?
Andrea Barrow    There may be a new Police station built in the next 5 to 10 years, so there was a cost implication to the equation. We could have built conventional cells however, the cost would have been much higher. By using modular units, we are able to have them installed far more quickly and should the new station be given the green light, then they can be moved elsewhere as demand dictates.

Where were they placed, what needed to be done to make them fit for use and what facility has been lost?
Andrea Barrow    We had two portakabins in the area that has been used. So we have lost the capacity they gave us. The modular units were craned into the exercise yard in one day! So we have lost an exercise yard, but it wasn’t a vital facility. The units are made by a company called Wernick Buildings Ltd. They are made up of modular units about 40 feet long and six feet wide with a completed cell at each end. All that is required is to bolt them together and make good the floors and services. They have been interfaced with the new cell-call system and the CCTV system.

The cell installation has enabled us to create a secure gated area and prisoners will be brought into the unit through a dedicated vehicle custody entrance. They will disembark within a secure 5-bay area and walked to the booking-in desk. Before this, we had to walk prisoners a considerable distance through the Police station. Now we have a dedicated custody entrance and this saves time and therefore money. It is also safer for the other occupants of the building. We turned two cells into observation cells, created two more interview rooms and a consultation room, a waiting area for solicitors and appropriate adults. Moved the intoxaliser into its own room and created a back office for staff. The holding cells were altered so they were visible from the custody desk.
We have life signs monitoring in the cells.

What made you pick Wernick as a supplier of the cells?
Andrea Barrow    Geoff Awde from estates led the project from the perspective of the building work. He was the person who made these decisions. It came down to a cost benefit analysis of the most efficient way to build 10 cells; bearing in mind the location and that we may need to relocate them in 5 years time. This was done over 18 months ago before I was involved in the project.

What was the biggest single factor that affected the outcome?
Andrea Barrow    I think it was the level of consultation between everyone. I spoke to all the sergeants and CEO’s and all the people who work in the area. They were fully engaged in the process and because of that they have ownership of the process of change and outcome. The superb outcome is a result of all that work.

Thank you for speaking to the Review.