ICVS Activity

OVERALL ACTIVITY
During the reporting period of April – October 2024, a total of 609 visits were completed. The majority (95%) were conducted face to face, with 34 (5%) conducted via telephone monitoring. Police Scotland have advised the custody throughput during the reporting period was 60,180.    
 
Region Throughput Visits No of persons in custody at time of visit Persons in custody not available Persons in custody offered  Persons in custody seen
North 
12623 144 435 97 196 144
East 
15495 213 920 193 456 295
West 
32062 252 1198 208 576 414
Total 60,180 609 2553 498 1228 853
*Cluster 11 (West) sits within the East visit stats above

KEY FACTS  

A total of 2,553 detainees were in custody at the time Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) attended custody suites. 

There was a total of 609 visits attempted by ICVs during the reporting period. Four of these visits were reported as being unsuccessful in gaining access to custody, resulting in 605 valid visits. 

All reports relating to valid visits contained positive comments with regards to custody staff and officers.  

DETAINEES

There were 2,553 detainees in custody at the time of the visit.

1228 (48%) detainees were offered a visit. Of these detainees, 853 detainees (69%) accepted a visit and 375 (31%) declined a visit. ICVs also observed 28 detainees.

697 (27%) detainees were not offered a visit by ICVs. 

498 (20%) detainees were not available at the time of visit. Reasons for this include being at interview, hospital admission or with solicitor. 

Police Scotland advised that 102 (4%) of detainees should not be visited due to concerns for visitor safety.

Of those spoken to, 666 were adult males, 163 were adult females and three were recorded as “unknown”. There was also 1 female older child, 15 male older children and 5 male younger children spoken to by ICVs.

POSITIVE COMMENTS

ICVs recorded many positive comments from detainees on how they had been treated by police custody officers and staff. These included comments such as ‘custody staff have been brilliant’, ‘treated very well’ and one detainee made mention to ‘female staff have been lovely and brilliant’. 

One visitor report commented about a male detainee being very chatty, he advised the visitors of the difference in the way he had been treated in custody to that of being arrested and advised the calmness of custody staff and officers was very positive. 

The average wait time for a visit to start was 7 Minutes and 4 seconds.

On 18 occasions, ICVs waited more than 30 minutes at the front desk to gain access to the custody suite.

After being granted access to the custody suite, there were nine occasions were ICVs were delayed more than 30 minutes before the visit could commence. 

The longest delay for a visit to start was 1 hour and 20 minutes, due to lack of staff to accommodate the visit. ICVs were advised it could be over an hour wait and as a result had to abandon the visit. This has been escalated to the cluster Inspector by the ICVS National Manager.

The days of the week on which the highest proportion of visits were made was a Tuesday and Wednesday (22% each). ICVs are encouraged to visit at weekends and in evenings where possible. 

The ICVS team were made aware of two activations during the reporting period.

TACT VISITS

There were no Terrorism Act 2000 (TACT) activations during the reporting period. 

BORDER FORCE VISITS 

There were no Border Force activations during the reporting period. 

OPCAT CONCERNS  

During the 605 successful visits, there were no concerns recorded by ICVs relating to torture inhumane or degrading treatment.

There were concerns raised by ICVs relating to another custody suite where individual’s underwear was observed outside of cells rather than stored in appropriate areas as per custody procedures. This does not conform with International Standards and therefore was raised at the October cluster meeting in which ICVs, National Manager and Cluster Inspector were in attendance. 
Communication was circulated thereafter to all staff and officers reminding them of the use of appropriate storage facilities. 
This is being closely monitored by ICVS and ICVs to ensure correct procedures are in place. 
 
WELLBEING OF DETAINEES 

ICVs raised 795 concerns regarding detainee welfare during the reporting period. 675 were resolved at the time of the visit (85%) and 120 were unresolved during the visit (15%).   

The five most frequent wellbeing issues raised by ICVs where there was a request by the detainee were: 
• Detainees requiring access to solicitor and update on outcome (101). 14 incidents were unresolved during the visit. 
• Detainees requiring reading/writing material was raised (98). 13 incidents were unresolved during the visit. 
• Detainees being informed or aware of their Letter of Rights was raised (99). 18 incidents were unresolved during the visit. 
• Detainees requiring informing somebody of their arrest (91). 16 incidents were unresolved during the visit.
• (71) detainees required or requested medical attention. Nine incidents were unresolved during the visit. 

ICVS TEAM ACTIVITY 

A new ICVS logo was designed to represent the full name of Independent Custody Visiting Scotland. The logo is Scottish themed and represents the ICVs.

The ICVS team have delivered new ICV induction and training. At time of writing, eight new ICVs have joined the scheme. 

Five ICVs attended TACT training in July 2024 to keep up to date with any changes in legislation.

The ICVS team joined the National Preventive Mechanism (NPM) webinar in June to learn about two new guidance documents outlining key skills and approaches to inspections and monitoring visits for those working in detention scrutiny. The first guidance document is aimed at leaders and managers, with the second providing guidance to inspectors and monitors. 

Finally, the ICVS team raised awareness and provided training on the new Menopause Toolkit jointly launched by the NPM and Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA).