Congratulations to the custody visitors for this high praise. This in from the Hampshire Police Authority, in their own words. Ed
Volunteers who check on the welfare of prisoners in police custody have been praised by the Hampshire Police Authority at an annual seminar on 30 June 2011.
Malcolm King, Independent Member of Hampshire Police Authority addressed independent custody visitors from Hampshire, Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and volunteers from Catch22, a charity which works with children and young people who find themselves in difficult situations, at an annual seminar held in Netley.
“Volunteers play a crucial role in the community”
In the past 12 months nearly 350 visits to custody suites have been carried out, with Independent Custody Visitors speaking to nearly 1,200 detainees. The overall percentage take up rate was 96% with only 33 detainees refusing to speak to custody visitors.
Malcolm King said: “Volunteers play a crucial role in the community – in this European Year of the Volunteer we should all particularly remember and celebrate your contribution. As a society we would be all the poorer without the people who selflessly give up their time to help others.
“Each police authority has a statutory duty to ensure that detainees are visited and on behalf of Hampshire Police Authority can I say that we really appreciate what you do on our behalf to make sure that people in custody are safe and treated well. The success of the scheme is entirely dependent upon the willingness of people such as you who volunteer to carry out the role on our behalf.”
Become a volunteer
Volunteers are being sought to join the south east and south west panels of the Independent Custody Visiting scheme for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
For more information, visit Hampshire Police Authority Website.
