Watchdog Orders Police Scotland to Speed Up Custody Fixes After Safety Concerns

Inspectors at His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said they had identified new cases where children were being held in custody for an "extended period" without a clear rationale being recorded on the national force's system. They also highlighted instances of adults being detained long after a decision had been made to release them, including one case where a detainee was held for a further 25 hours, and two cases where detainees were held for an extra 10 hours. The review identified "ongoing inconsistencies" in the management of detainee risk, with a "stubborn disconnect" between detainees being assessed as 'high' risk, but managed at a lower level. The watchdog said it and Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) had published ten custody inspection reports over the past three years, and despite issuing a series of recommendations, "many issues" that had been previously raised were still of concern.