Report raises alarm over police detention of vulnerable suspects

A report by the National Appropriate Adult Network (NAAN) has found that more than 100,000 police detentions and voluntary interviews of vulnerable adult suspects who have a mental illness, learning disability, brain injury or are autistic individuals, are carried out each year without the support of an ‘appropriate adult’.

Previous studies have indicated that as many as 39% of adults in police custody have a mental disorder or intellectual disability. Last year police recorded the need for an appropriate adult in only 6% of around 1 million police detentions and voluntary interviews of adults. The report also found that where police had no access to an organised appropriate adult scheme, they were half as likely to record an adult suspect as needing one.

Source: The Guardian

NEW NPCC GUIDANCE HAS BEEN ISSUED REINFORCING USE OF PRE-CHARGE BAIL

Concern that pre-charge bail has fallen considerably, including in domestic abuse, sexual offences and cases involving vulnerable people, has prompted new guidance from the NPCC.  The consideration of whether or not to apply bail must take into account all the circumstances of a case, including the necessity to support and protect victims and witnesses, and ensure public safety.  Decisions should be made by investigating officers, custody officers, and supervising officers. The guidance makes clear the circumstances in which pre-charge bail should be used:

• If there is a risk of a suspect committing further offences or failing to surrender to custody;
• The suspect being a threat to the public;
• The suspect interfering with an investigation or witness;
• Or for their own protection (if they are vulnerable).

If a suspect has been arrested in connection with an offence involving vulnerable people or domestic abuse then serious consideration must be given to the use of bail with conditions in order to safeguard victims. If pre-charge bail is not used, officers should document their decision making. Victims and witnesses should be informed that a suspect has been released under investigation and given advice about what to do if they are targeted by the suspect.  The guidance encourages officers to seek counsel from senior colleagues in these cases.

Circular 005/2019: Firearms (Amendment) Rules 2019

The Home Office has published a circular regarding amendments under the Firearms Acts. The amendments, which come into force on 10^th June 2019 will require applicants for registration with the police as a firearms dealer to complete a medical declaration. They will also be required to provide details of their ‘servants’ at each place of business so that relevant background checks can be completed by the police.

101 calls to become free

The Home Office has announced that it will scrap the 15p charge and spend £5m a year to fund the phone service in the UK. The 101 number, which received around 30m calls annually, was introduced in December 2011 to free-up calls to 999.

Vodafone will scrap the charge from the end of this month for its pay-as-you-go customers. The Home Office is also funding the creation of a new website where the public will be able to contact the police and report crimes. The service, the Single Online Home (SOH), will be fully launched in the summer.

Source: BBC

Post-release supervision for short-term prisoners (CRCs)

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has published its action plan in response to HMI Probation’s inspection of post-release supervision for short-term prisoners (CRCs).

Independent Review of Modern Slavery

The final Independent Review of Modern Slavery report was laid in Parliament yesterday, 22^nd May 2019. The review, which can be found here, considered specific provisions in the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the role of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, transparency in supply chains, Independent Child Trafficking Advocates, and legal application of the Modern Slavery Act. The government is now considering the review’s recommendations and will respond formally in due course.

Police facial recognition surveillance court case starts

A case against the use of Automatic Facial Recognition (AFR) by police forces has begun in Cardiff. The argument has been made that due to the lack of regulations for police use of AFR, the taking of such data breaches human rights. This is because there are regulations in place for other data such as fingerprint or DNA and consent must be given by an individual.

The case is being supported by the civil rights group Liberty who argue that the proven AFR biases, with the technology more likely to misidentify women and racial minorities, could result in innocent people being questioned for crimes. Moreover, Liberty argues that the non-consensual collection of AFR data breaches privacy and data protection rights.

Source: BBC News

The criminal careers of those imprisoned for hate crime in the UK

The full paper from the European Journal of Criminology can be found here.

Abstract

Hate crime research has increased, but there are very few studies examining hate crime offenders. It is, therefore, difficult to determine to what extent those who perpetrate this offence might be different from those who have not committed hate crime. This study is the first to provide an account of the demographics and criminal histories of those serving time in prison for committing a hate crime. It is based on a large complete population of offenders in the UK. Hate crime offenders released from prison were found to have prolific criminal careers, having committed a wide range and large number of different types of offences. When compared with those who committed a general (non-hate) violent offence, violent hate crime offenders were significantly older and were considerably more prolific in their previous offending. Violent hate crime appeared quantitatively, as opposed to qualitatively, different from violent non-hate crime, but this was less clearly true when those who had committed public order hate crime were compared with other public order offenders. Interventions to reduce the later offending of violent hate crime offenders should be based on the effective interventions that exist for violent offenders, but should take into account knowledge about the surprisingly prolific criminal careers of hate crime offenders.

Forensic Science Lessons Learnt Issues 3-5

The Forensic Science Regulator publishes lessons that be learnt from quality failings.

Issue 3 concerns contextual bias in forensic toxicology.

Issue 4 concerns proficiency test handling.

Issue 5 concerns the manipulation of data.

Introducing a single point of contact (SPOC) guidance for CCTV and ANPR

The Government has updated its guidance regarding introducing a single point of contact (SPOC) for local authorities regarding surveillance camera schemes (CCTV and ANPR). It sets out information on why a SPOC is useful, what their responsibilities are, and how to go about introducing a SPOC for surveillance camera related matters. t explains how a SPOC should establish a Code of Practice (LA Code) setting out the governance arrangements that all surveillance camera schemes must comply with, and the documentation that scheme managers are required to maintain in a Code Assessment Pack (CAP) to demonstrate that each scheme continues to be operated in compliance with the LA Code.

The guidance can be found here.