Police Federation reaction to report highlighting the increased risks of miscarriages of justice faced by people with learning difficulties

18 June 2008

 

Responding to the Prison Reform Trust’s report which reveals that police safeguards for dealing with suspects with learning disabilities and / or difficulties increase the likelihood of miscarriages of justice, John Coppen, who leads on custody matters for the Police Federation of England and Wales says;

“The Federation welcomes and fully supports any improvements that would assist our members to carry out their duties under PACE without fear of criticism.

Any enhancements in the care of offenders or suspected offenders would ensure justice was fair to all.

The Federation fully promotes the right to be treated with dignity and respect.  We agree that people with learning difficulties or disabilities should be treated as vulnerable members of society and that this should be taken into full account when considering their criminality.    

Therefore, the correct level of advice and support should be available to assist custody and investigating officers to properly assess needs and filter out those who should not be subjected to the custody or investigative process.

The initial risk assessment on an individual when they are brought into the custody office should assess specific needs to be considered in order to fulfill our obligations, whether it involves identifying that appropriate adults need to be present and or medical assessment is required.

It should be stated that the drive to achieve unrealistic targets set by the Government puts added pressure on police officers.  This target driven culture can detract from real situations with too much focus on activity rates and not enough on the more human aspects of policing.”

END

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