Volunteers are needed to keep an eye on the way people locked up in York’s police cells are treated.
Great idea! I volunteer Stevie Wonder…
Scheme administrator Claire Askew said: “This is a unique voluntary role, as ICVs have random and largely unfettered access to detainees….
ICVs are normally expected to make on average one or two visits each month to the police station in the area in which they live, so this is an ideal voluntary scheme if you wish to contribute something back to your local community without committing too much time from your work, studying, social or family life.”
I’m not sure that making sure the police are plumping the pillows of arrested felons and ensuring their dinner isn’t too cold counts as ‘giving something back to your local community’, does it?
My fear would be recognising a local lout, and them thinking as they recognised me too that I was "in with the fuzz" and seek some sort of revenge "on the system" when they get out.
ReplyDeleteGiven how our policies on detention works, in about 24 hours.
I've said it before, and I'm not one to praise the Farce unless I really have to: The police, IME, take great care with their prisoners. They bend over backwards to make sure that anyone they put in a cell is well treated and well cared for...down to even the most 'weird' dietary and health needs.
ReplyDeleteDiabetic son recently spent a night in the 'drunk tank' and they had a doctor out thrice to check on him. Not that he wanted, requested or needed it but the police are required to do it.
The desk sarge will even count the number of tablets you have with you and will ask you to explain exactly when and how you have to take them.
Really don't see the need for "ICV's"
'as ICVs have random and largely unfettered access to detainees'
ReplyDeleteSounds like the ultimate marketing opportunity for the local drug dealer/ambulance-chasing lawyer/political agitator...
I have read up on it. ICVs are expected to undergo training and to work in pairs, the custody suite Sargeant would never be expecting them.
ReplyDeleteTjhere is a similar scheme for prisons as well.
This is off topic, but the original post has gone off the page - I thought you ought to know, I've linked a post of yours - here. Cheerio!
ReplyDelete"I volunteer Stevie Wonder"
ReplyDeleteOmigod...hahahahahahahahahahahaha...*breathe*....hahahahahahahaha....*snort snort*...hahahahahahaha...*tears & snot*....hahahahahahaha...
Oh noes !...weed a lil bit !...
It's a good idea, provided the volunteers are verifiably independent and maybe even critical.
ReplyDeleteIf MTG visited a police station and told me (through gritted teeth) that he had made an unannounced visit, checked everything and the police were holding the detainee safely and carefully, then I'd definitely believe him and not the person shouting about police brutality.
1100 people approx have died in police custody in the last 10 years and not one policeman successfully prosecuted for even so much as negligence.. That is not to say that most of them "fell down the custody suite stairs" but some of them did. Others may be drunks who choked on their own vomit and that might have been their fate even if they had not been in the police's care but once detained the police have a duty of care to those they are holding.
ReplyDeleteThese visitors are a good idea.
I'm no friend of crims but the baying mob need to remember with our lovely police force and ever more wonderful laws a lot of ordinary people just like them may just end up in the hands of the bluebottles. In fact there is more chance of that than of the real crims being locked away.
These people are called lay visitors in the Met and they have been around for years.Once they turn up at the station they have to be shown straight through without delay as that's the rules.
ReplyDeleteA CV for a person applying would probably read like this;
Guardian subscription? Check.
Open-toed sandals with grey socks? Check.
Tofu sandwiches? Check.
Silly beard? Check (women as well).
Far too much time on your hands? Check.
Congratulations have you the job!!!
The scheme requires representatives from as wide a variety of backgrounds and sections of the community as possible.
ReplyDeleteBut somehow I don't think a white BNP voter would get the job...
I was going to volunteer until I received the application form asking for my sexual orientation details. Told them to stick it.
ReplyDelete"ICVs have random and largely unfettered access to detainees"
ReplyDeleteWith a baseball bat? Sounds like 'restorative justice' to me.
"My fear would be recognising a local lout, and them thinking as they recognised me too that I was "in with the fuzz" and seek some sort of revenge..."
ReplyDeleteHmmm, hadn't thought of that!
"The police, IME, take great care with their prisoners. "
Agreed.
" I thought you ought to know, I've linked a post of yours - here."
Cheers!
"... the baying mob need to remember with our lovely police force and ever more wonderful laws a lot of ordinary people just like them may just end up in the hands of the bluebottles. "
Since I don't take drugs, drink to excess or have a desire to fight a mob of heavily-equipped policemen, I don't really have much to fear, do I?
I hope they monitor camera from a room in FWPD (Federal way police department)
ReplyDeleteCv Template