Refurbishment of the Custody Suite at High Wycombe
 Mr Glen Ashby is the Senior Project Liaison Officer for a series of Custody Suite refurbishments for the Thames Valley Police. Here he is speaking with our editor at one in that series, the soon to be commissioned custody suite at High Wycombe.
I guess the existing custody suite here at High Wycombe was in poor shape otherwise…
Glen Ashby (GA) The 12 suite cell badly needed attention. The heating system was unreliable, there was Legionnaire problems and the place was generally run-down. A ten month refurbishment contract was negotiated and in the meantime High Wycombe would share the custody facilities at Amersham.
I understand this establishment will soon become operational. What facilities do you have here now that you didn’t have before?
GA The layout for processing detainees needed attention; the existing suites layout did not provide an efficient use of space that had an adverse input on time and resources. The new suite has a new documentation room, and by constructing this, we have converted the old room into an additional PACE interview room (four in total). There is also a new search facility, an additional consultation room and also a new staff rest room.
Did the design team invite an input from the people who were to work here?
GA The design and technology was a joint effort by Chief Inspector Clive Webb and me. You ought to know that we had four documents to comply with, or be assisted by; the first is the Home Office Design Guide which gives a well rounded basis, then the Safer Detention Document which is a fantastic document and something with which we shall have to comply next year. The third document is the PACE Act, because it’s really important to know how the officers work within a custody suite and to understand how it fits with the first two documents. Lastly, and of special interest to me, is Building Regulations into which the other three documents must also comply with and that is the challenge of custody suite design.
Since we are discussing custody, I suppose the function of the locks on the cell doors are an essential feature.
Anything special about those fitted?
GA Yes, it’s a new Chubb locking system, an electronic system that has a ‘key’ which is not a key at all in the accepted sense. The system has secondary functions: it can trigger an audit trail with the help of in-cell CCTV. In addition to this, the new lock also controls the background cell heating facility.
When I spoke to the Chubb representative, he said it could do a whole lot more. What did you decide you didn’t want it to do?
GA One application was to have music piped into the cells and we didn’t want that. Really, the lock could have many applications; it could be made to control anything electronic. The most useful facility is the audit trail it makes when combined with the in-cell CCTV. For example, if we are conducting a 15 minute cell watch, we can obtain and download all the relevant information relating to this particular operation, in other words this system provides a 360 degree assurance that the task has been completed correctly.
There is a toilet and a wash-hand basin in each cell. How do you organise the water supply so it can’t be misused?
GA The toilet is limited to four, two second flushes an hour. The basin has a cold supply only and is limited to eight flushes per hour and is suitable for drinking.
I’ve heard the expression, ‘a ligature free environment’- is that built into the esign of the cells?
GA We have had problems in the older suites with the timber benches. Everybody in the custody business knows that thermal contraction of components made of wood i.e. the old cell benches needs to be reviewed, because a 2mm gap can be deemed as a ligature point. Thames Valley Police conduct ligature audits every three months and were we still have these components, we fill the cracks with anti-pick mastic. We are however, replacing the traditional timber benches with Corian during our custody refurbishment and expansion project. Corian is a man-made material not subject to thermal stresses. This is sealed around the edge where it butts against the wall with anti-pick mastic. The light fittings are Designplan type and we use these because they have fewer fittings on the face of the product which enables easier maintenance. As for the floor covering, a balance has to be struck between using a material that is not slippery, for obvious reasons, and not being harmfully abrasive. We have found that if the floor covering has a gritty texture, some detainees will try to hurt themselves by rubbing against the floor. Here, we use a product known as Flowcreate and we think that provides a proper balance as well as being easy to clean. The practicality of Flowcreate can be judged from the fact that it is widely used in the food manufacturing industry.
What contingency arrangements do you have for loss of power from the grid?
GA This suite is equipped with an emergency generator with fuel for three days. As soon as the power fails, a battery (UPS) automatically takes over while the generator is starting-up, which could be as long as 30 seconds. The whole station is then secure and at full operational status for three days.
When will the suite be used operationally?
GA We have been having some ‘dry runs’ during our commissioning, for example, and this was very embarrassing. Earlier this week, I was giving a demonstration to our Business Manager of the Atlas® compact heating controller to the cell door. I closed the cell door that ramps up the system, and at that precise moment when I shut the door the mains failed and the generator kicked in. This transpired to be a fault in the High Street and nothing to do with our project, I believe someone was doing some work in the road outside the station and went through the electricity mains and the whole of High Wycombe was without power! You can say we had an unscheduled dry run and the systems worked. We have commissioned everything and the systems are fully working. It’s a well known fact that if something goes off-line or an electrical spike is generated - a power surge, as the replacement comes in - we have a system in place to overcome this.
It’s noticeable that the custody desk in reception isn’t very high. Most other custody suites I’ve visited had a high, almost intimidating desk. Is there a reason?
GA It is a design we adopted from the Home Office best practice document. It is high and deep to prevent a detainee grabbing the custody sergeant or gaoler. Also the sergeant or gaoler completes most of his work at a computer terminal and that is at desk height. This complies with Display Screen Regulations (DSE) and we have to make the desk and the terminal similar to an office work station. Booking-in is a paperless operation and a foot pedal under the desk transfers the information to the detainee screen. The detainee can see and also sign the report electronically via a signature capture pad. Disabled pe ople are processed in the Documentation room where a booking-in facility at a more suitable height is used.
So High Wycombe has a shiny, almost new custody suite. Are the other Thames Valley suites going to receive attention?
GA Newbury will be next followed by Abingdon and Milton Keynes - all are in need of attention - some more so than others.
Thank you Glen for taking time out to speak with the Review.
|
