To recognise National Volunteers Week, Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone has thanked Independent Custody Visitors (ICVs) for the valuable work they do so that police custody in Northamptonshire can be monitored independently.
Providing an ICV scheme is the Commissioner’s statutory responsibility and involves volunteers from the local community making unannounced visits to custody centres to speak to detainees in the cells.
The county’s team of 18 ICVs have collectively contributed almost 450 hours of their time in the last year, whether that’s visits to the custody suite, attending meetings to discuss their findings, or completing training.
They observe and report on the welfare of detainees to check that they are receiving their rights and entitlements and that the conditions they are being held in are satisfactory.
Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone said: “I am really grateful to our ICVs in action and continue to be very impressed with what they do and how they work with the custody staff. We rely on volunteers to be able to run this important scheme.
“Independent scrutiny is important, so that communities have confidence in their local police service.
“This scheme provides an effective independent oversight of police custody and enables me to hold the Chief Constable to account on behalf of the public.”
In the last performance year, ICVs made 104 visits to the Criminal Justice Centre and Weekley Woods Justice Centre and saw 440 detainees to ensure their rights and welfare were being upheld.
Northamptonshire still continues to be recognised nationally for the high quality of its ICV scheme with a Silver quality assurance award.
Anyone interested in joining the ICV scheme can read more here.
