Custody units are possibly the biggest risk to Police members, says Police Association president Chris Cahill.

His comments come amid ongoing concerns from Police staff around the country, and in the wake of criminal charges being laid against three officers involved in custody suite management in Hawera.

The officers have been charged with manslaughter after a 55-year-old man died while in custody at the Hawera Police Station cells during their shift.

“Given the seriousness of the consequences when something goes wrong, the management of custody units is a real risk every day,” Mr Cahill says.

Custody arrangements cover detainees at a police station, transportation of arrested or remanded prisoners and management of detainees in courtrooms, to and from the holding cells.

Police staff are responsible for detainees from arrest to discharge from custody, or handover to Corrections.

They are very conscious of the risks of dealing with prisoners who are drunk, drugged and/or agitated.

Quite often, staff won’t have a clue what drugs or medication a person has taken, or if the person has an underlying health condition, mental health issues or the potential for suicide.

In a 10-year review of deaths in police custody (2000-2010), the IPCA said suicide by hanging was the most common cause of death in custody.

Prisoners must be carefully searched before being put in a cell and assessed as to their risk of self-harm. Anything that might be used for self-harm must be removed. In many cases, that means all their clothing, and prisoners are given a “tear-resistant gown” to wear. It’s rarely an easy process getting them to put on the gown. The potential for conflict and violence is well known.

Custody units are not popular places to work. Most police officers would rather be out on the street.

The creation of authorised officer roles nearly a decade ago was meant to release frontline staff from custody duties, but we need more of them, says Mr Cahill.

He says there is good anecdotal evidence that the presence of AOs can have a calming effect on the behaviour of detainees, as opposed to the presence of the blue uniform.

In smaller stations, however, there aren’t enough AOs. Cops are often called in off the street to staff the units and they may not have been specially trained or have custody experience, adding another layer of risk.

Not all custody units are created equal. Although there are modern hubs at the Christchurch Justice Precinct and in Auckland, most police stations, especially the smaller ones, suffer from old-style design and poor resourcing.

Physical inadequacies include poor layout and the presence of potential ligature points with which prisoners could harm themselves. Police currently has a work programme in place to remove ligature points in cells.

The monitoring of people in a distressed or incapacitated state is incredibly important. While most stations have CCTV cameras in cells, they often don’t have the right number of staff to monitor the cells. It is recommended in Police instructions that people assessed as in need of frequent monitoring should be checked at least five times an hour at irregular intervals.

That does not include CCTV monitoring.

Members also believe there is not enough training around procedures for custody suites and for dealing with difficult prisoners.

They also know that, should anything happen, they are going to be heavily scrutinised. They want to make sure that not only are there clear protocols, but that there are enough staff on hand to meet them.

The risks only increase where there are inadequate facilities, resources and staff.

Police is currently reviewing all areas of custody management, but the Police Association says the risks to detainees and staff are at such a level that action needs to be taken immediately.

“The first step should be to increase the number of authorised officers available,” Mr Cahill says.

Last month, he wrote to the Police commissioner urging him to give priority to resourcing the management of prisoners at police stations.

“We firmly believe there are immediate and imminent risks to Police staff and detainees, and these cannot wait until the findings of [the] review,” he wrote.

Of particular concern is the situation at the Hasting police cells, which are part of the old police station building.

The cell block is old, poorly designed and in a poor physical state. In 2018 it was summarised in an IPCA report, which also identified fire hazards, as “not fit for purpose”.

There is now a proposal to demolish the old station building, but retain the cell block, using a Portacom and portaloos to supplement the custody area.

The expected timeframe for replacement of these “temporary” facilities is three to five years – an unacceptably long period to have staff working in potentially hazard conditions in a confined area while trying to care for prisoners.

The association is keen for WorkSafe NZ to have a role in oversight of custody units.

Mr Cahill says older facilities especially need specialised staff and resources, rather than the workarounds that members find themselves doing now.

“The risks associated with poor facilities and resources have serious consequences for detainees and those managing them,” he says. “If they can’t follow correct procedures, for whatever reason, they need to escalate it up to a supervisor or to the association.”

Even the purpose-built custody hubs are not immune to short staffing. For example, in one hub, it is not unusual to have more than 50 prisoners in the cells on a Sunday night for court on Monday morning.

“The creation of authorised officer roles nearly a decade ago was meant to release frontline staff from custody roles, but we need more of them.”

The poor physical condition and design of the Hastings custody unit is of particular concern. Older facilities need specialised staff to deal with the workarounds required in such cell blocks.

“We firmly believe there are immediate and imminent risks to Police staff and detainees, and these cannot wait until the findings of [the] review.”

Last month, the Police Association made a lengthy submission to Police on custody issues, including:

• Transportation
• Staffing levels in custody suits
• Use of single officers responsible for dealing with prisoners
• The level of initial and ongoing training of staff in custody management
• The use of TENR as a mitigation method, rather than as a risk assessment tool.

The association has made several recommendations on those five issues, based on member feedback, including that:

1. Police expand the use of audiovisual link technology to minimise the need to escort prisoners to court.
2. Custody areas are properly staffed, with standard operating procedures on staff-to-prisoner ratios
3. There is a minimum of two staff for both the custody and transportation of prisoners to adequately manage risk.
4. There is greater cooperation between police and court security staff
5. There is more practical initial and ongoing training in prisoner management, in particular around dealing with non-compliant and aggressive prisoners, loading and unloading from transport vans and search procedures
6. Processes be implemented to ensure that briefings and debriefs occur for “lessons learnt”
7. TENR (threat, exposure, necessity, response), while a valuable tool, needs to be recognised as an assessment tool only and not as a replacement for adequate training, processes and staffing.