Recent Publication of the Baird Inquiry Report – examples of extremely poor, indefensible and inhumane treatment by Greater Manchester Police

Posted onAugust 16, 2024
Emily Hayman

What?

On 18 July 2024, Dame Vera Baird KC published an independent report into experience of people are arrested and taken into custody by Greater Manchester Police (‘GMP’) with a focus on women and girls. Dame Baird interviewed 12 women, and 3 men. However, 14 remained engaged with the Inquiry throughout the whole process.

The Inquiry was commissioned by the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham. This followed a Sky News investigation in July 2023 reporting distressing incidents regarding 3 women who are each arrested and detained by GMP.

Purpose of inquiry was to further public confidence and expectations in and around custody arrangement by the police, and to ensure dignity and lawfulness are upheld when carrying out arrests and detentions. This would be done through exploring people’s experiences of the same, with a focus on the appropriate use or otherwise of strip searches and intimate searches. By giving these people an opportunity to share their experiences, Dame Baird was then able to formulate her own suggestions and recommendations for change, to ensure GMP can learn from the multitude of mistakes highlighted including series of ‘unlawful’ arrets and strip-searches of vulnerable women.

Key findings summary

Reveals out of the 14 reported cases, 7 were unlawful. The report set out the following key recommendations:

Arrest

Refresher training for officers on:

Availability and utility of voluntary attendance, given the increased emphasis it is afforded in the PACE codes of practice as a less intrusive alternative to arrest. In cases at the lower levels of alleged criminality, the balance should favour avoiding both the risk of poor impact on arrestees and the risk to public confidence from such arrests.
Effective use of the College of Policing national decision model in determining necessity of arrest.

Quality control of ‘arrest pack arrests’

Establishing a means of assuring that arresting officers have read and understood the contents of an arrest pack before taking action – packs should be presented in force template for ease of access.

Trauma training to recognise and manage effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors

To ensure officers are better equipped to respond to victims.
To avoid victims’ arrests due to officers’ over-response to perceived minor misconduct, by recognising that victims reporting abuse face counter-allegations and responding to a poor police response may be revisiting trauma and require care.
To avoid escalation of incidents involving abuse survivors through physical contact with male officers. It should, where possible, always be preferable for any necessary physical contact with women to be done by female officers.

Custody

Training refresher for custody officers as to their independent role + duty to represent arrestees’ welfare, and the potential harm that custody can inflict on individuals.
Ensure women’s cells are kept separate from those of men.
Every women in custody to be allocated a female welfare officer, who will hold responsibility for all aspects of the detainee’s practical welfare. Also ensure sanitary requisites should be provided automatically in every female cell. This will ensure GMP do not maintain a custody regime which fails to provide for women’s needs and therefore carries potential sex discrimination implications.
Give consideration to better risk assessment and more humane and dignified treatment of all detainees, to reduce or minimise psycho-emotional impacts of custody.
Give consideration to implementing an independent custody visitor role or professional lay presence in custody suites, to carry out random checks for example.

Strip search

Where seizing clothes for welfare purposes (PACE S.54(4)(a)):

GMP to end within 6 months the strip searching/ anti-rip clothing for cases where there is a risk of self-harm or to detainee’s welfare, and move to practice based on level 3 observations (meaning constant observation).
GMP to direct custody staff that use of anti-rip clothing or strip search because a detainee is refusing to engage in risk assessment questions is inappropriate (per the April 2023 update to College of Policing Authorised Professional Practice.
If risk assessment shows risk of self-harm, then conversation should take place with custody staff and arrestee to offer access to charities such as Samaritans, as best practice.

Using strip searching in general:

Investigate the potential for use of equipment such as airport screening devices to eradicate degrading strip searching from police practice as much as possible.
Consider importing the two defined levels of strip search available under stop + search powers for use in custody (namely the ‘more thorough search’, requiring more than the outer layer of clothing to be removed, and a search that ‘exposes intimate parts of the body’, per PACE Code A).
Where a strip search is contemplated, the detainee must be given the option to offer items up that they know they would not be allowed to keep. Further, clear reasons for the search must be explained to the detainee including why there is no alternative, with the custody record endorsed accordingly. Avoid strip searching of children where possible; appropriate adult must be available in situations where this is unavoidable.

Domestic abuse

Research published by the Centre for Women’s Justice (2022) drew on discussions with women, police and other practitioners to identify the need for:

early intervention + support for women throughout the criminal justice process.
culture change, allowing for a more compassionate and trauma-informed response, including allowing trust to be built with ethnic minority and migrant women.
resources and awareness raising for police to tackle domestic abuse effectively and to make better use of existing diversion schemes for women.

The research encouraged the need for:

The fostering of a coherent, gender and trauma-informed, intersectional approach to women as victims, suspects or witnesses. Requires recognition of the risk that women’s victimisation may lead to their inappropriate arrest and detention.
A national or local strategic policing response to criminalisation of victims of violence against women and girls, in its current absence.
Ascertaining whether the government’s Female Offender Strategy (MoJ 2018a), which was accompanied by police guidance on ‘managing vulnerability’, has been disseminated in GMP and what accompanying training/ monitoring has occurred therein.

Baird emphasised the need to bring all victims’ processes to compliance with the Victims’ Code.

Also recommends establishing various scrutiny panels to review anonymised arrests, quality of interrogation by custody officers to facts which underpin reasons for arrest, comprehensiveness, accuracy and consistency of custody records, to feed back to GMP team and Deputy Mayor.

Finally, endeavours to discuss the introduction of independent element into police complaints at the lower level by offering a triage service based in Deputy Mayor’s office, as has proved effective in Northumbria.

In a press conference held on 18 July 2024, Andy Burnham’s powerfully states:

"Today we publish the Baird Inquiry and though it makes difficult reading, I am in no doubt whatsoever that it was the right thing to do. What it reveals is a problematic culture and practices that must change … The level of harm caused by these experiences is huge and the individuals concerned deserve an apology for what happened "

He says that he will accept all of the recommendations in the report. He will also ask the chief constable of GMP to consider 'significant' changes with relation to arrest and use of custody.

He ended by saying: “The issues uncovered in this report are not confined to Greater Manchester but prevalent across the country."

GMP’s response

They state they have already started taking action on the recommendations made. GMP’s chief constable in the press release says the report speaks to some uncomfortable truths.

The force says it has:

Completely stopped the use of anti-tear clothing
Trained custody officers not to authorise strip-searches for welfare purposes when based solely on a detainee not answering risk assessment questions at custody desk and are ensuring this is reinforced for more explicit policy, guidance, and direction
Introduced provision in every custody suite for men, women, and children to have separate cell areas where possible
Introduced female welfare officers for every female detainee and provide resources to signpost to relevant agencies for support and advice
Introduced packs for female detainees that includes soap, blanket, and packaged sanitary products
Introduced an audit system to ensure compliance in answering cell buzzers quickly
Dip-sampling more than 150 proactive reviews of arrests per month
Vastly improved attendance times for appropriate adults to be present for the strip-search of a child with the vast majority now within 30 minutes
In March 2024 alone, 88 per cent of appropriate adults arrived within 30 minutes as part of the professional appropriate adult scheme
Expanded the size of its complaints team and improved the speed and quality of responses
Increased its response times to Subject Access Requests from 47 per cent (June 2022) compliance to 82 per cent (May 2024)
Ensuring custody officers routinely give detainees are given the option to offer items up before a search is necessary, and to ensure the reasons for a strip search are explained in plain language and properly recorded
Continuing its commitment to ensuring improved compliance to the Victim's Code
Implementing improved templates for 'arrest packs' to enhance quality of arrests
Exploring the potential for IT solutions to ensure accurate and comprehensive data on strip-searches
Training all custody officers and wider establishment of GMP officers and staff regarding the Ministry of Justice's 'Female Offender Strategy'
Reviewing voluntary attendance policy and retraining staff on its use
Reviewing how to ensure all officers are able to recognise and respond to the effects of domestic and sexual trauma on survivors
Reviewing custody officer training and compliance testing to ensure staff adopt a non-coercive approach

The full report can be found here: The Baird Inquiry (greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk)

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