Custodial

NPEG’s custodial work focusses on providing the necessary support to achieve national best practice standards.  In practice, this translates into assisting forces to achieve calm, controlled compliance in a high-risk operational environment, where there is also a need to protect the vulnerable.

The custodial function is the gateway to the criminal justice system; consequently, everything serious will have a custodial angle.  It is also the engine room of force performance and if done properly leads to positive outcomes.  Multiple agencies also provide input to the custodial process, which adds a layer of complexity to an already sensitive environment.

Since 2017, NPEG has led nationally on design standards and all estate-led custodial standards.  It was also instrumental in redrafting and refining the Home Office design guide which it then published for the first time. It is now also updated annually by NPEG and issued each year in February with the latest updates and improvements.  Rather than relying on historical sources, which was the case previously, forces know they can access the most up-to-date guidance.

Alongside this NPEG’s custodial team also provides a peer review group on request, which is available to support all new build custody suites or refurbishment of existing suites.   The team consists of experienced property professionals from different forces who have a passion for improving the Custodial Estate. The extended custody team can include operational officers, Police Federation, Ministry of Justice, Home Office, National Procurement bodies and specialist suppliers and consultants in the sector, providing various sources of expertise that can be called on.

 In essence, the peer review group acts as critical friend at RIBA stages 2 or 4, offering advice and guidance based on experience gathered from other forces. It also provides a natural feedback loop with any improvements incorporated into future versions of the design guide. The process is invaluable to the estates team but is also critical in influencing design development with architects and building contractors. Throughout, evolution is constant as is the need for future proofing. The team also stay close to policy development to ensure that forces and custody work in general stays ahead of the game.

The output from this work has been an exponential reduction in deaths in police custody since the early 2000s.  Standards in all areas have been driven upwards; tech has been introduced, not least to improve monitoring, while information sharing across forces has improved overall efficiency and contributed to cost savings. It has also created better synergies and alignment between operational processes and the in-built environment, the results of which are better suited to the demands and challenges of modern policing.