“Custody officers need more than awards, they need investment”

ESSEX Police Federation is backing new awards aimed at recognising the skill and dedication of custody officers.

The National Custody Awards launched by the PFEW and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) will take place in September and is asking for nominations across four different categories.

The PFEW wants the awards to recognise the ‘outstanding’ work of custody officers who work in a ‘hard to fill’ role in one of the most ‘challenging areas of policing’.

Essex Police Federation Chairman Steve Taylor is happy to offer his support to the project.

“Custody is a really important building block in how we deliver policing. When it falls over everything suffers,” he said.

“Almost everything we do involves custody and in Essex we have historically under-invested in our estate in custody, and we are, in our view, under-resourced, trying to deliver custody with an ageing suite and not enough people to make it work properly.

“This is remedied with overtime. Which is great if you’re happy to work it, but costs. It costs you in time. It costs you because you should be at home and you’re not, you’re in the custody suite. And this is even before you consider the particular and unique risks that custody officers work under.”

Custody officers deal with the ‘vulnerable of the vulnerable’, Steve said and that they, and the department, deserve more investment.

“They deal with the most vulnerable. It’s only a matter of time until one of our prisoners, something goes wrong with them because of the nature of the risks that we must manage whilst they’re in our custody.

“So yes, we do need to put more than an arm around them. They deserve more than awards. They deserve more investment. They deserve better facilities in which to work, and that’s what we’re working towards getting in Essex. But it’s a slow, arduous process because it’s a very expensive part of the service.

“It’s nice for them to be recognised, other specialisms and skills have them, so we support the awards.”

For more information and to nominate someone for an award visit; https://ncfa.evessiocloud.com/2019/en/page/home