National recommendation - The National Police Chiefs' Council, December 2020

The IOPC recommends that the National Police Chiefs’ Council shares the learning from recent IOPC investigations with relevant force custody leads, asking them to review and update their custody and CCTV policies to reflect:

a) that strip and intimate searches should not be routinely recorded on CCTV without justification
b) any measures that should be used to prevent the routine visual recording of strip and intimate searches on CCTV
c) the legislation that should be applied in deciding whether recording a strip or intimate search on CCTV can be justified in the circumstances, including who is responsible for authorising the recording of the search
d) that in any circumstances where a strip or intimate search is recorded on CCTV, it is documented, and a rationale for the recording is provided on the custody record by the authorising officer.

This follows two recent IOPC investigations involving different police forces, in which it was identified that in some of their custody suites, all strip searches were conducted in police cells. All the cells in both forces’ custody suites have CCTV cameras which are continuously recording. The forces have said they do not have the ability to stop or pause the CCTV recording while the search is conducted. This had led to a general practice of strip searches in both forces being routinely recorded on CCTV and also without providing a rationale for doing so. 

However, this is not in line with APP which suggests; 
“Forces should not generally use cells equipped with CCTV to conduct strip searches or for consultations between detainees and their legal representative. There may be occasions when recording a strip search via CCTV is desirable for the protection of staff, but officers must consider PACE Code C Annex A paragraph 11(b). The recording of the search must be shown to be necessary and proportionate in the circumstances”.
In addition, routinely recording Strip or intimate searches breaches Article 8 ECHR, which guarantees everyone the right to respect for private and family life, and therefore breaches the European Convention on Humans Rights Act 1998. Recording a strip search is clearly an interference with this article and must therefore be justified. Routinely recording strip searches purely because forces do not have the facility to turn off the recording is not considered an appropriate justification.

Do you accept the recommendation?

Yes

Accepted action:

Recommendations accepted in full (save for the clarification requested below).

My plan will be to: 
1. Write to all Chief Constables and place the letter on Chief’s Net informing them of the recommendations and requirement for compliance
2. Write to all Heads of Custody.
3. Write to key stakeholders such as HMICFRS, ICVA (Independent Custody Visitors Assoc), National Appropriate Adults Network (NAAN). 
4. Include it in the learning section of my next newsletter.