NYP Custody Scandal: de Souza Report – NYE Vindicated

NYP Custody Scandal: de Souza Report – NYE Vindicated

by TIM HICKS

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Introduction: The North Yorkshire Police (NYP) Custody Scandal

Regular readers will know that the NYE has been doggedly pursuing a gang of NYP Officers who serve in NYP’s Custody Suites, who – according to a custody inspection – have been observing women detainees while they are semi-naked in the cells.

The NYE has published a series of articles raising this issue and the related issue of children who had been detained being strip searched inapporproately:

“The presence of a male officer in a cell with a woman in a state of undress when there is no need for it is a form of sexual abuse and a despicable abuse of authority. If the detainees were underage, it is paedophilism.”

The articles further express a personal opinion that male officers that enter cells and gawp at undressed female detainees should be arrested and charged with voyeurism in the normal way, as should the Custody Sergeants who allowed this despicable behaviour to occur.

Although no one denies there has been abuse of female detainees by Police Officers in NYP Custody Suites, no action has been taken. Successive NYP Chief Officers, Police Fire & Crime Commissioner Zoë Metcalfe, Mayor for York and North Yorkshire David Skaith and his appointee Deputy Mayor Jo Coles, who are responsible for holding NYP to account, have simply responded to these allegations by refusing to comment on them – thereby evading their duty to tackle it.

The Dame Vera Baird Report

On the 18^th of July 2024 the NYE’s campaign received a boost when Dame Vera Baird KC published her report on abuse of women in Custody Suites by Officers from Greater Manchester Police (GMP).

The Baird report raised many of the same concerns about treatment of women in GMP custody suites that the NYE has been raising about abuse of women in NYP Custody Suites since 2022.

The report has essentially upheld these allegations and revealed a horrific culture of abuse of female detainees by GMP Officers.

Dame Vera Baird was formerly the victims’ commissioner for England and Wales. Her inquiry was commissioned by Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, following public concern after women made multiple allegations of abuse in GMP Custody Suites. It covered arrest, custody, strip-searching, intimate searches and clothes removal.

Now in another stunning development, that was completely unforeseen by the NYE, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza (pictured in lead illustration) has released a report into strip searching of children, which raises similar concerns to those the NYE has been raising since 2022.

The de Souza Report

The report by Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza can be read here.

Unlike the Baird report, which only covers GMP, the de Souza report covers all police forces in England and Wales, including NYP. It is the third report by Dame de Souza:

• The first report focussed on the Metropolitan Police and identified force wide issues concerning lack of transparency, minimal scrutiny and non-compliance with codes of practice when carrying out strip searches of children, leaving them exposed to unacceptable safeguarding risks.

• The second report identified that these issues were endemic to all police forces in England and Wales. BBC article here

These reports were a response to the “Child Q scandal” when a fifteen-year old-schoolgirl was strip-searched at school by two female Police Officers in March 2022, without an appropriate adult present, causing national outrage.

Dame de Souza’s latest report reveals that one in 20 searches of children did not comply with the Codes of Conduct and the Police and Criminal Evidence Act requirements for strip=searching a child, including the need to have an appropriate adult present:

“…an appropriate adult was not confirmed to be present in 205 searches (45%) between July 2022 and June 2023.”

The report also reveals that 8% of strip searches of children occurred in public view.

Interestingly, Dame de Souza’s experience of challenging police misconduct in this area is exactly the same as the NYE’s. A few quotes from her:

“The current system still lacks effective safeguarding procedures”.

“There is an urgent need to strengthen guidance around strip searches, ensure oversight and inspection, and reform a culture that has allowed non-compliance to go unchallenged.”

(My emphasis in bold)

NYP has known about lax procedures and abuse of detainees in its Custody Suites for years, yet it has steadfastly refused to comment and so far as we can tell, nothing has been done.

Dame de Souza’s remarks that the abuse of detainees has been allowed to continue unchallenged perfectly describes the response of Chief Constable Forber, Deputy Mayor Coles and their predecessors.

The NYE will continue to raise this issue.

Right of Reply

If you are mentioned in this article and do not agree with the views expressed in it, or if you wish to correct any factual inaccuracy, please let me know using the letters@nyenquirer.uk email address and your views and a correction will be published if appropriate.