Power, Policing Agents and Police Custody: Findings from Phase 2 of the 'Good' Police Custody Study

• In Event: Changing Styles of Provision in Frontline Police Roles in England

Abstract

Police custody suites in England and Wales – that is, places of detention where suspects are held until a decision is reached about whether to charge or release them – have long been subject to civilianization and privatization. This means that the civilians who work in them as civilian detention officers (CDOs) can be employed either by the police or by the private sector and work alongside sworn (warranted) police officers. The purpose of this paper is to explore how police officers and CDOs understand and use their authority in police custody, as well as suspect responses to them. It will draw on over 500 hours of observation and nearly 100 interviews with police officers, CDOs and detainees in four different types of police custody suites in four police force areas in England and Wales, which have been collected as part of a 3.5 year ESRC-funded study of ‘good’ police custody. Preliminary conclusions are that the exercise of power in police custody is a complex and processual matter, in which the use of authority varies between different policing agents (e.g. CDOs vs. police officers) and in which legitimate forms of authority co-exist alongside other forms of authority such as coercion.

Authors

• Layla Skinns, University of Sheffield, UK

• Lindsey Jade Rice, University of Sheffield