The Custody Suite at High Wycombe

The Custody Suite at High Wycombe

Ms Judy Blake has been working on the development and refurbishment of the custody suites in the Thames Valley Police area for the last eight years.  Her previous experience was in research and planning and, although not a surveyor, claims that her knowledge has increased hugely during this long project under the tutelage of Mr Glen Ashby the Senior Project Liaison Officer. This project is part of a £31 million refurbishment programme to expand/refurbish eleven custody suites; High Wycombe being the sixth before the next at Newbury. The strategic partner for the whole project was Beard Construction, based in Oxford and Swindon.

I believe getting a project moving is always a difficult thing to do... So what happened to send this one on its way?
Judy Blake (JB) It started with the completion of a piece of work entitled ‘Best Value Review’ produced by Chief Inspector Hugh Matthews for Thames Valley Police. I had supported him in that work doing research and providing documentation. The strategy was to establish the deficiencies within each of the Basic Command Units (BCUs) and project that into the longer term. The first concern was to address capacity issues and secondly, to refurbish the custody estate to provide a more user friendly environment for prisoner processing and to address Health and Safety and DDA issues. This last concern was in response to a Safer Detention Document that made many changes in the way detainees were processed with special emphasis on safety.

Did you find quantities of asbestos?
JB No, it was in very small contained areas. We have a very robust programme for asbestos containment in the Thames Valley. Issues to do with asbestos and legionella are very robustly managed.

What facilities do the staff have that they didn’t have before?
JB About five or six years ago we had taken on a Reliance contract for the civilian/jailer role. Before, like all police forces, we used constables as jailers. The civilianisation of the jailer role has become very successful and has been renewed over recent years. Quite small amendments to the facilities had to be made; a rest area provided for them, a staff toilet and other small items to make their working life more pleasant. They work 12 hour shifts, so they need to be able to make themselves a drink and take meal breaks, albeit in the custody area, so they are handy should an emergency occur.

In an old listed building with stairs, low ceilings and doorways, I am wondering how you managed to establish a smooth workflow with such constraints?
JB Workflow to me has to do with dealing with a detainee from arrival into the custody suite, being processed in a safe and timely manner to arrive in a cell with all the documentation complete. It all has to be very carefully considered. The hub of the whole operation is the charge area, where the custody sergeant deals with the detainee and any visitors who might be involved. Visitors may be social workers, medical staff or solicitors and all have to be dealt with in an efficient manner. Essentially I feel that the custody sergeant is the manager of the suite and controls the workflow supported by the jailer staff. It was our task to create an open, environment that is with clear lines of sight, and climate controlled so that they could do their difficult job well. Working a 12 hour shift in an oppressive atmosphere was completely unacceptable. The custody suite is in operation 24/7 and takes heavy traffic so that the building and facilities have to be robust and, as far as possible, maintenance free and not be disturbed by upgrades and repairs.

How did you manage to operate during the refurbishment?
JB We were very fortunate in the Buckingham BCU to have a suite at Amersham that had been mothballed and was just about the size of this one. It’s quite modern, fit for purpose and has an integrated CCTV system. We had upgraded and expanded Aylesbury custody suite last year and we were able to use both facilities during the renovation here. So closing High Wycombe was not a critical factor. Business as a whole was transferred to Amersham which will be mothballed again when we are fully operational.

What would have been the plan had Amersham not been available? It’s not often that an organisation has spare capacity like that.
JB Detections and arrests were not affected by the closure here. If Amersham had not been available, we would have provided ancillary accommodation or hired cells depending on the situation. Our preferred method (as at Aylesbury) is to build new cells first, provide a temporary mobile processing area that complies with all the requirements and regulations and use the new cells while we refurbish the existing suite and the old cells. That method has worked tremendously well in our past expansion/refurbishment projects. 

Moving on to more specific things - I have noticed there are peculiar verticalstrips on the walls leading to the cell corridors... is that decoration or is there for a purpose?
JB They are called Metrasens and are metal detectors. To comply with Safer Detention, the number of searches we carry out on detainees is time consuming and can be very intrusive. We find that detainees are not searched to the level they could be following interviews with a medical team, their solicitors or even on initial entry to custody, if it is a busy time. So we are looking to supplement physical searches with the new device first for the protection of the detainee and secondly to prevent excessive close attention.  People are getting much better at secreting items that they can use to harm themselves and this is an issue we are taking responsibility for. Metrassens is another level of protection for the detainee.

How does it work?
JB It is a device specifically adapted for custody situations. Corridors in the suite are very wide because sometimes a detainee has to be escorted by two jailers, one on each side, and the ‘archway’ you see at airports to detect metals wouldn’t be practical. So we had to come up with a way of unobtrusively detecting metal on a detainee without great inconvenience to the jailer or the detainee. We happened to be at a Home Office trade show fairly recently where we were introduced to a gentleman from a company that has been in the detection business for a long time and were looking for other applications to expand their business. At the moment Metrassens is installed in hospitals where body scans are carried out. It detects metal in motion and is sufficiently sensitive to detect a paper clip. The drill is for the jailer(s) to stand back and ask the detainee to ‘do a twirl’. It doesn’t replace the search, it is a supplement to the search and is beneficial for the detainee and the staff. In custody we are not allowed to have audible alarms that might disturb detainees resting, so we have to be careful with panic and fire alarms so that they are not heard in the cell block. A bleep is an option if required, say in the front charge area, but we use a red light for positive in the cell block. While people are in custody, they are our responsibility and we have a duty to keep them safe.

During the early part of our discussion you mentioned anticipating future developments, which I like to call ‘future proofing’. How is this custody suite equipped to deal with future developments?
JB We do not have a crystal ball, but we can anticipate to a certain degree. – For instance the Chubb electronic locking system that Glen will describe to you. Technology moves on at a pace and we try to install extra electrical trunking and make the rooms as big as we can to facilitate changes. We also commission multi-function rooms for flexible usage. We have noticed in this, and in other custody suites, that with all the plant there is in the roof, large parts of the ceiling have to be removed from time to time for maintenance purposes. We are naturally concerned about the frequency and duration of maintenance tasks especially when they cause disruption. The suite is a 24/7 operation and closing the whole or sections of it is very difficult operationally. So we have developed, and are trialling, a new ceiling installation that allows easier access to the plant above.

Is this whole project a PFI scheme?
JB No this is not a PFI scheme. Its being paid for by Thames Valley Police and managed by Glen Ashby and me. We work for the Internal Properties Services Department and the maintenance is all done internally. We work very closely with our maintenance team colleagues and also with Mr Alan Bowden, the Mechanical Designer, and all sides understand how the others goes about their business.

So would you say that your method of delivering a project is almost the opposite, or very dissimilar to a PFI project?
JB Yes, it’s all done internally. My background is in research and planning, I’m not a surveyor although my knowledge has increased hugely during the last eight years. Glen is a very good colleague and we work very well together. We have taken ownership of this project and have made it our job to understand what the custody officers need to be able do their job properly. We have a total of fourteen custody suites in the Thames Valley Police area and we visit them quarterly to do ligature inspections. They all know that if they want us for anything, be it old or new, they can call us. We are extremely hands-on and, we believe, our police colleagues appreciate that.

Thank you for taking time out to speak with the Review.