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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: FOI-102-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 24th January 2024 as follows:
Context:
The College of Policing changed the APP relating to: ‘Detention and Custody - Control, restraint and searches’, with the addition of the section ‘ the documenting of strip searches in police custody.’
This change to the APP was made on 05.07.2023. It details the legal position and requirements re police custody strip searches / welfare clothes removal / PACE Code C Annex A - citing a legal ruling from 2015, Davis v Merseyside Police (which is sometimes referred to as PD v Merseyside Police).
Please can you tell me:
Whether your force procedure or policy on custody/strip search/documentation was updated to reflect this change to the APP? (ie - a change or updated version around or shortly after 5th July 2023 which relates to the APP new section on documenting strip searches in custody and / or PACE Code C Annex A and / or removal of clothes for welfare reasons/prevention of self-harm and / or Davies/PD v Merseyside Police).
Please can you provide me with:
A copy of the force’s procedure / policy that was in place before the change was made (this would likely be the procedure / policy document that was in use in June 2023)
A copy / copies of any new / updated versions of this procedure / policy document that have been issued by your force since the change to the APP (in early July 2023).
If the change to the APP on this matter was communicated to custody officers / staff in any other way (perhaps an internal email or in an internal newsletter) I’d be grateful if you could also give me details of what was communicated and when.
If your procedure / policy on this issue had already been changed in 2015 as a result of the Davies v Merseyside Police ruling (or as a result of guidance on the ruling issued by HMIC in 2015) then please tell me about these changes (ie what was changed and when).
Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in providing the response to your request and for any inconvenience this may have caused you. Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Warwickshire Police do not hold a local policy with regard to Custody. The force adopted the Detention and Custody Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and this is the case as at the date of your request. This includes any changes made to the APP since its adoption.
Although, as stated above, a local overarching Policy/Procedure is not held, I can advise that the changes did lead to new Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The changes to the APP were communicated via Teams and through sharing of the new SOPs and further communication was made in newsletters. It has also been included as a topic in our staff training sessions.
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB