Roger Wiltshire is the Chief Inspector in charge of Custody for the six Norfolk and Suffolk Police Investigation Centres.  (PIC’s)

Roger joined the Police at the age of 31 and rose through the uniform ranks to Chief Inspector. Three years ago he completed a posting as a staff officer and was subsequently tasked with organising the new structure for custody in Norfolk and Suffolk. These are the PIC’s, or Police Investigation Centres. The buildings were purchased using the PFI scheme and the designs and contracts were finalised prior to his appointment.  His was role was concerned with bringing the PIC’s on line and overseeing their operational integration. Originally he had been expected to fill the role of Deputy Head of Custody however the financial pressures placed upon Police budgets in the latest spending review caused a rethink and the role as Head of Custody became his.

I met Roger at the Wymondham PIC. It’s on an industrial estate next to the A11 just north of Thetford and only a few hundred yards from the Norfolk Police HQ. I wanted to find out how the decision making process had led to the creation of the PIC’s , what the resulting facilities were and if they had lived up to expectations.

CR           What was the thinking behind the 6 PIC’s and how did they come about?

RW         The counties of Norfolk and Suffolk are fairly similar in that they are large, rural and contain several large towns. Norfolk had a total of five custody centres and Suffolk had eight and many of the custody facilities in both counties were old, difficult to maintain and in danger of falling below the standard required by Safer Detention and modern working and operational requirements. Their cells were usually in the basement of town centre Police stations, therefore difficult to renovate or convert.  In addition each county had numerous small Police stations dotted around the countryside each with a few cells attached, most of which had already been closed due to them no longer being suitable or economic to use as some were built prior to the 1950’s. So both forces were using their main town centre custody facilities and these were showing their age. So it was decided about three years ago to provide acceptable custody facilities that 6 new centres would be built across the two counties.

CR           How was the location of each PIC decided upon?

RW         A comprehensive review was carried out and the criteria for their location were decided upon. The main ones were:  need, location and affordability. Need is an obvious one, so proximity to the large population centres was important. Availability and cost of land was also important as sites large enough to build a facility like this do not come up very often in a town centre, and when they do they are at a premium price making them unaffordable. Getting a large plot of land next to existing Police town centre facilities is unlikely and proved impossible in these cases. Therefore the PICs were placed on or near major roads close to the large towns.

The logic of this is that in large mainly rural counties like Norfolk and Suffolk it was always likely that an officer would have to drive to get his detainee to a Police station. Therefore the new PICs do not represent much of an alteration in working practice from that perspective. The locations were eventually agreed as Aylsham, Wymondham, King's Lynn and Martlesham, with the final PIC opening in Great Yarmouth in November.

CR           How has the change to ‘out of town custody facilities’ affected the cell capacity and operational efficiency of the two Police Divisions?

RW         The improvements have been dramatic. We have grown in cell capacity by approx 40% from 106 to 146 cells across the two counties. But cell count is only a part of the improvement.  We also have Criminal Investigation Units (CIU) based within the PICs meaning that for the majority of detainees we are a one stop shop. What this means in practice is that the officer will bring in the person they have arrested and will hand them over to the Custody Investigation Unit (CIU). The CITU take over the process of interviewing the person, making further enquires and file building. Whilst Custody Staff handle the calling of a solicitor, arranging an interpreter, fingerprints, and carry out the DNA sample. All of this usually involves a lot of waiting around for the next stage to happen and, in the past, the arresting officer would have to stay in the custody area while all this was completed. As the CIU can process more than one detainee at a time they release the arresting officers to go back on duty. This has a dramatic effect on operational efficiency and increases Police on the beat.

Another benefit is the efficiency brought about by the design of this building. We deal with people far more quickly than we used to because the building enabled us to change our working practices. The average time between arrest and detention is the same now as it was before we started using the PICs.  This more than compensates for the longer journeys some arrested people have to take.

CR           How do you staff the PICs? Do you use all Police staff or do you have civilian detention staff, and can you move the staff between different PICs?

RW         The majority of the Detention staff were inherited from the previous custody arrangements. We now have 104 Detention officers across the two counties of which 90 are civilian Police staff and the rest are Police officers. All of these are directly employed by the Police and can be moved between different locations.

CR           Who paid for the buildings and the kit they contain?

RW         The 6 PICs were all built under the PFI scheme, the supplier provides the buildings and maintainace, the food and utilities, cleaning, grounds maintainace, furniture etc. We occupy the buildings, fit the IT and pay the bill! The buildings where constructed by Kiers Eastern and are managed by Reliance.

CR           How about the change over from the old town centre based custody suites to the new PIC’s?  What preparation was made and how did you accomplish it?

CR           You have been using 5 PIC’s a few months now, how do you see their role developing and changing?

RW         Only very slowly and in a very controlled way! One of the key factors we have developed into the PIC’s is consistency. Historically custody procedures have varied from station to station and in some cases from shift to shift. This was caused by different people’s interpretations of custody requirements, different layouts of the custody suites and peoples preference as to the order of doing things. So one of the big things we have striven to introduce is what we call the Mc Donald’s factor. It’s named that because wherever you go in the country you know what will be served at one of their restaurants. The company’s standards and procedures mean you know what to expect and what will happen when you go into one. Its part of what has made it such an incredibly successful chain of food outlets.

They achieve this success by having a strict set of operating procedures, facilities and policies; everything they do has been worked out and set down. If it’s altered in one place then it’s altered in all of them. We wanted the same to apply with the PIC’s as this has many advantages to us, staff can move easily between the different locations, the solicitors, Police and interpreters all know the procedures and layouts. If they have been to one of the PIC’s then they will know the layout, routine and procedures that will be followed in all of them.

It’s the same for the staff, in the McDonalds world a member of staff would quite easily be able to work in a different outlet. The tills operate the same, as do the chip fryers, the menu choices and the environment. The customers are treated in exactly the same way too. A big benefit of this is that transferred staff do not need to be retrained in the skills and requirements of how another establishment works and so the desired operating methods become second nature. We have applied that principal in the PIC’s to our great advantage. For example a week or so ago we had a detention officer call in sick at this PIC. However there was a Detention Officer available at Kings Lynn. So within one hour we were able to temporarily transfer them here and they did not need any additional training or introduction because this PIC is laid out and works exactly the same way as the Kings Lynn PIC.

CR           You say the layout and systems are the same, to what degree?

RW         Equipment is the same, the custody desk and systems, uniform, clothes store, cell equipment, fingerprint machine, DNA sample kit, food type, store and kitchen layout. Medical room, phone systems, CCTV and cell call equipment. All that may vary is the number of cells in a particular PIC. However were we to walk around two of them you would be very challenged to notice any difference. 

CR           An ongoing problem exists in all franchises, and organisations, where local practises grow up and become entrenched. The big chains use mystery shoppers and customer surveys to keep the franchises on their toes. How are you going to prevent the local practises growing up in the PIC’s? Mystery shoppers and customer surveys are hardly an option!

RW         We recognise this is an issue for us.  People will always want to change things, it’s in all peoples natures to do it, whether it’s for nefarious reasons. i.e. the wish to not do something in particular or perhaps to have a cigarette break. Or for more legitimate reasons like comfort.  It is the process of monitoring these changes and convincing the staff that adherence to the strict operating policies we have created are to everyone’s benefit. When something goes wrong in a custodial environment it’s usually because some one hasn’t followed procedures or has forgotten their training. So making everyone realise that diverging from the set operating policies and procedures has a consequence that may be undesirable.  The common systems and procedures we have established across all the PIC’s will help to prevent people digressing from the correct way of doing things and so keep people safer when they are in custody. It’s an ongoing programme and a big challenge but one that must be achieved.

CR           The staff are now working in fabulous conditions, its bright and airy, it’s safe and secure. They have a good restroom upstairs. There are even sufficient car parking places and no detectable whiff of stinking trainers! What effect has all this had on staff morale and efficiency?

RW         It’s had a noticeable effect, however people do get used to positive changes very quickly and the morale gain from a shiny new piece of kit soon wears off. After 6 months it becomes just another place of work. In a couple of the PIC’s there are some photos of the old custody suites on the notice boards with comments like ‘lets not forget where we used to work’. So it’s obvious that the staff do appreciate working in such excellent conditions.  A good way of looking at this question would be to look at the requests for posting. For many years being posted to the Custody unit was seen as an unattractive one that was not good for the person’s career. They would do it for a couple of years then look for a quick route out. Now we have a waiting list of officers wanting to work in the PIC’s and none of the Custody officers have left, or asked to leave. That speaks for itself.

CR           Thanks for talking to the Review.