The Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Paul Gibson has opened the refurbished £1.2 million custody suite at Skegness Police Station, offering state-of-the-art facilities.
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00:00I'm Paul Gibson, I'm the Chief Constable of Lincolnshire Police.
00:10Now you've just had a tour around the new custody suite at Skegness Police Station,
00:16what do you think to it?
00:17Well I've just had the pleasure of opening the custody suite and as you say I've had
00:21the tour round and it is a state of the art facility and you know an important investment
00:27on the east side of the county and you know really important that we have modern facilities
00:32to be able to you know police the communities of Skegness in the very best way we can.
00:37Now it's very clean, state of the art as you say, some people might question why people
00:46that are coming in to be interviewed are being treated so well.
00:51Well I can understand that sentiment but as you'll appreciate that in a custody suite
00:57we have very strict guidelines that we have to adhere to so that means that we can keep
01:03our detainees here in a safe and secure way and ultimately you know seek the justice for
01:10victims you know where that is relevant so the investment is very important we have to
01:16make sure that like I say we have a custody suite that is fit for purpose and having walked
01:21round here this is very much fit for purpose and good to be here to experience the opening bit.
01:26Yes I understand that someone is heading this way shortly so we don't have long do we?
01:32Someone who's going to be interviewed.
01:36At a recent council meeting there was a representative from the town deal which is the government
01:42funding which helped bring your police academy to Skegness.
01:46They were hinting that Skegness is lucky to have a custody suite but if it wasn't for
01:54the police academy being here then the facilities that are in Skegness might not be as they are.
02:01Would you say that was true?
02:03Well I mean I would start by saying that you know working in partnership with the town
02:07deal is really important for us and you know any investment that could be put into policing
02:12as well as the wider environment of course is welcome.
02:16In terms of the custody suite here then this strategically is a very important part of
02:20our county obviously a large county so from a policing perspective you know our plans
02:25are that we would always have a custody suite here so therefore the investment has come
02:30on the back of you know our estates planning.
02:33But that said you know I could appreciate the point of view that's been raised and like
02:37I say working in partnership is hugely important but the custody suite you know we must make
02:42sure it's fit for purpose it's safe and it's secure and we adhere to all the regulations
02:47that are required.
02:48And of course we're coming up to the busy season does it help you process anyone quicker
02:56having these facilities like this because people you know are concerned about being
03:01safe when they come to the coast aren't they?
03:04Yeah and obviously you know by having a custody suite here open that is fit for purpose it
03:11allows us to keep our local offices and our transport you know to a minimum and you know
03:17I know that we have some really robust plans for policing over the summer time which means
03:23that we'll be you know targeting our high harm offenders we'll be making sure that we're
03:26putting more staff on we ensure that our neighbourhood policing teams are engaging with people to
03:31keep them safe so that's certainly a priority for me and I know that you know from last
03:36year the policing plans that we use were very very effective and we'll continue to utilise
03:40those and of course develop and grow them in time.
03:44Well thank you for inviting us along here today.
03:47You're very welcome nice to meet you.
03:50Okay so I'm Sergeant Andy Young I'm based at Skegness Custody Suite which has just been
03:53refurbished opening in the next five minutes hopefully and I'm here to just give you a
03:59quick tour.
04:01Okay so where are we to begin with?
04:03Okay so to start with we are in the booking in area through the door that we can see over
04:08there to the left is where the detainees will enter custody and they'll come and they'll
04:13stand hopefully on this yellow line.
04:16Okay so we've got the yellow line there yeah.
04:19They'll then speak to me or another custody sergeant that's on duty behind the custody
04:23desk we will ask them a series of questions ascertain who they are why they have been
04:28arrested and also go through any needs or risk assessment with them we need to find
04:34out if they've got any medical conditions just so we can give them the support and help
04:39that they need while they're here.
04:40People will recognise this as well?
04:43That's right yeah so we have to take biometrics from detainees which includes a full descriptive
04:48including their height, their hair, eye colour etc so that they can be identified at a later
04:55date if possible along with photographs and fingerprints.
05:00Okay so moving on we have a state of the art disabled facility so our disabled toilet is
05:10fully kitted out it's next to the booking in desk so you've got plenty of space and
05:14access.
05:24We've got a range of stock that we keep for the detainees including clean blankets,
05:30replacement clothing, washing facilities, we have safety suits and for example if a
05:40detainee wants to have a shower and a shave we have the facility to give them the things
05:46that they need to do that.
05:47Pink and blue flip-flops too?
05:49Pink and blue flip-flops.
05:50We have what we call the intoxilise room here this machine here will do a breath test of
05:57a detainee that has been arrested for on suspicion of drink driving it gives an accurate reading
06:03of how much alcohol they've got in the system so it can make a decision on whether they're
06:07guilty of drink driving or not.
06:08And part of the new refurbishment is also to replace the old outdated heating system
06:27that we had been replaced with heat pumps so we have some new technology that's been
06:34put in so that we can control the temperature better.
06:38And I guess that's more economical as well is it?
06:41More economical yeah I think they're air source heat pumps so it's all the latest
06:46technology and we can now control the temperature of detainee cells between 18 and 24 degrees
06:55so if a detainee complains that they're too cold for example we can turn the heating in
07:00their cell without affecting everybody else.
07:04That's the control panel for that machine.