How the police deal with children in custody

Suffolk News

An interview with Chief Inspector Robert Wicks, who works as head of custody for both Norfolk and Suffolk, reveals how the police deal with children in custody.

Transcript

00:00 We deal with some of the most vulnerable people in Suffolk and Norfolk in terms of their needs when they come into police custody.

00:07 So we always try where possible not to bring people into custody.

00:12 Custody is always the last resort for people who have committed crimes.

00:15 When they do come in we need to make sure that we care for them well,

00:18 we look after them and they get the appropriate support that they need whilst in custody and then

00:24 hopefully we don't see them back in in the future because we've given them

00:28 opportunity to liaise with partners who can divert them away from a life of crime.

00:32 So once they are booked into

00:34 the custody system, it may well be that they're going straight to interview because it's a relatively straightforward case.

00:42 Something a bit more complex, they would be taken to one of our child cells.

00:46 At the moment they're identified by having a different colour door to the others.

00:50 Children as well as adults are entitled to exercise.

00:55 There's also reading material that they can look at should they wish to do so.

00:59 We do have some more comforting things like teddy bears and things that could be available to support a child or young person because

01:05 it's not always just about their physical age, it's about their

01:08 mental age and the requirements that they may have.

01:12 All of our child cells as well are going to be redecorated over the summer just to break up the cells which are

01:18 at the moment the same as an adult cell. All of our cells within custody have been approved for the use of children.

01:25 So we're just trying to enhance the service that we can offer

01:28 for the children and young people that attend custody.

01:32 We always try to deal with children outside of the custody environment in the first place.

01:37 So we don't have too many people who are first-time offenders actually coming into custody.

01:42 It's due to an escalation normally that they would end up needing to come and utilize one of our facilities.

01:49 Sometimes it's due to circumstance,

01:53 unfortunately. Not all children have the stable family background and they're not all as privileged as others and sometimes

01:59 becoming very vulnerable you can be targeted by groups.

02:03 So you'll have heard about county lines. County lines is when drugs are brought into the county of Suffolk or Norfolk, primarily from London,

02:11 with gangs working in the background. They will target vulnerable

02:15 young men and women who they will utilize to do the footwork and sell the drugs on their behalf.

02:21 And so when people are really vulnerable, it's challenging

02:25 for policing and our partners to prevent individuals going into that life because they find a group who they belong to because they're

02:33 you know, that those individuals are able to care for them, look after them, they feel like they're loved,

02:40 they feel like they're needed and so it is difficult because they then become embroiled in

02:45 criminality which they may not wish to be involved with. I think as a parent you need to understand what your child is doing,

02:52 where they are and who they are, spending their time with. This isn't blaming parents for the way that the children

02:58 behave.

03:00 Not at all. It's really

03:02 challenging for any parent to bring a child up, whether you're in a stable relationship, whether the child has

03:09 academic challenges,

03:11 whether they have friendship group and peer group challenges.

03:15 Being a parent is not easy and this is not about blaming.

03:18 It is about making sure that everybody knows that the help is out there to support them in

03:23 anything that they need with regard to their child to prevent them becoming involved in criminality.

03:29 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended