Volunteers make unannounced checks on police custody suites

Greater Manchester’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd

Police stations across Greater Manchester received unannounced visits today (Wednesday 3 June) as volunteers checked on the welfare of people being held in police custody.

Taking place in Greater Manchester and across the North West, including Cumbria, Lancashire, North Wales, Merseyside and Cheshire, the simultaneous custody visits all took place at 2pm to mark the contribution made by independent custody visitors as part of National Volunteers’ Week.

The independent custody visiting (ICV) scheme ensures that custody facilities are closely monitored by people outside of the police force and is overseen in Greater Manchester by the police and crime commissioner’s office.

Wholly independent from the police, independent custody volunteers make random visits in pairs to police stations to check on the welfare of people who are in police custody. They look at a number of issues, from the treatment of detainees and behaviour of custody staff, to the effectiveness of custody processes.

There are 30 ICVs in Greater Manchester, and every custody suite in the area is visited once a week. ICVs also inspect police custody at Manchester Airport once a month.