I am very pleased and delighted to announce that I am the recipient of a major research grant from the Economic and Social Research Council, one of the key funders of social science research in the UK.
The title of the research is 'Good' police custody: theorizing the 'is' and the 'ought'. It will commence in September 2013, taking in multiple sites in the UK over a three-year period.
Police custody is where an arrested person is taken whilst a decision is reached about what should be done with the case, for example whether to charge or bail them. It is therefore an important gateway to the criminal justice process, where much is at stake for suspects and staff. In recent years, there have been changes to the way that police custody areas are staffed and managed, in particular, civilianization of roles formerly done by police officers has given way to privatization through the use of public-finance initiatives (i.e. when a private security company owns and/or manages a police custody suite and the police let it from them).
Though there have been a few recent studies of police custody, including my own book, ‘Police Custody’ (Willan, 2011), there have been few attempts to rigorously examine ‘good’ police custody or to map out changes to police custody arrangements on a national basis. Information about how police custody is currently delivered can be used to theorize about 'good' police custody practices and 'good' policing, and explore how police custody should be delivered in the future.
Aims of the research
1. Describe and appraise variations in police custody arrangements across the UK.
2. Identify the key
dimensions of police custody areas in operation. They might include occupational
culture(s), power, fairness, justice, emotions and relationships, cost,
governance and accountability.
3. Explore how police
custody arrangements such as civilianisation and privatisation impact on these
key dimensions of police custody.
4. Conceptualise and
theorise the dimensions of 'good' police custody and the links between them,
and examine the implications for 'good' policing.
5. Develop benchmarks and a survey tool
to monitor and improve police custody facilities, complementing the inspections
conducted by HMIP/HMIC.
Impact
Though the study will be of great interest to academics and
researchers, it will also be of interest to key stakeholders such as the 52
police organisations in the UK, HMIC, HMIP, the IPCC, as well as private
security companies contracted to manage/staff police custody areas. These key stakeholders will be
provided with a better understanding of:
- How
police custody operates in practice and also how it should operate. Much
research in the past has focused on police malpractice, whereas the proposed
research will examine what constitutes 'good' police custody practices. Such
information could be used to enhance public confidence in the police and to
increase the likelihood that the public continue to cooperate and engaged with
the police in the future.
-
Police custody in a local and national perspective. This will enable police
organisations to compare themselves with other similar police organisations and
help them to understand where they might improve or where they are already good
enough.
- How
to monitor and improve police custody practices on an ongoing and long-term
basis. The research will lead to benchmarks and a survey tool which police
organisations can use to measure their performance and which will be
complementary to HMIC/HMIP inspections.
- How
to balance the need for cost-effective public service delivery with the need
for security, fairness, justice, legitimacy and accountability, under austere
financial conditions.
