Federation Chair: Low morale of Custody officers is a problem

POLICE Custody Officers are struggling with low morale with many saying they want to be deployed elsewhere in policing ‘as soon as possible’.

A recent PFEW survey showed the role is seen as the ‘worst in policing’ and that 1 in 4 want out of the job. The national picture is mirrored in Essex, according to Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor.

“It’s a problem in Essex, it’s something we are struggling with,” he said.

“We have an ageing estate with doesn’t help and arguably we have too many suites and not enough staff.

“The shift pattern that Custody Officers work isn’t ideal and morale has consequently suffered. And it’s arguably one of the most regulated parts of the business, it’s one of the most critical parts.

“If it goes wrong, your custody falls over, it effects everything.”

Looking after detainees who may have physical and/or mental health issues can also add further strain to stretched teams, Steve added.

“You can go to hospital with a medical condition which is life threatening and you can spend time there and unfortunately you can die.

“You can come into custody with a medical condition we can treat, which we’re aware of, we can take steps around, and unfortunately you can die.

“But only in our situation is there an independent body which comes and reviews everything that we’ve done. It doesn’t happen in the NHS and yet it does to us.

“So, there’s a real risk to individuals, to the organisation, to all concerned, the confidence in police. Arguably, it’s unreasonable and it’s not fair for custody to shoulder that.”

Steve often works shifts in the department himself and has seen the issues up close.

“I was in custody recently and there was a juvenile who had been remanded on a Saturday morning so she could potentially have spent all weekend in the custody suites unless we got her to the court that morning.

“So, officers at Southend were running around trying to pull together the paperwork to make this happen, only to be told that the support staff that work in the CJU had gone home.

“We could physically get her to court, we had the time, but the court wouldn’t take them because of this arbitrary process and there wasn’t someone there to copy a file, to do a bit of a Q and A.

“Consequently, a juvenile spent the weekend in the custody suite – it doesn’t help.”

Money also needs to be invested in custody infrastructure in the county, he added.

“The facilities are aged, they need bringing up to date and need money which, as a force, we don’t have.

“We’re talking seven figure sums and we respect the fact that money has to be released from other areas to address this.

“We’ve asked the resourcing issue is considered and for a shift move.

“We’ve worked hard, we’ve presented some papers, we’ve put some options on the table and the organisation have decided they don’t want to do things piecemeal,” he said.

“What’s the point of rearranging the custody structure for seven custody suites when we’re looking to move towards a fewer number and therefore we might not need to make the changes that we propose. The medium-term option is the resourcing.

“The organisation has decided the timing’s not right for that and the short-term plan is to put more Sergeants in custody but where do you get them from?

“In custody, you can’t act up temporarily, you need to be substantive – we have trained, substantive Sergeants whose day jobs are out on division and so on a daily basis they might get told at the 11^th hour, ‘You’re not working in Clacton today on your response shift, you’re coming to Colchester to work as a custody Sergeant’,” Steve explained.

“The pool of cohort Sergeants is very, very small and they have day jobs which then suffer, so it’s a double hit,” he said.

“They don’t want to go to custody, they have to go to custody and their day job suffers”