Town of 280,000 to be left without a police custody suite
PRISONERS IN BOLTON WILL BE DEALT WITH IN BURY, SWINTON AND WIGAN AFTER REVIEW
ONE of Britain biggest towns will have no police custody suite from August.
Bolton has a population of about 280,000, a busy town centre and takes in Westhouhgton, Horwich, and Farnworth within its borough.
But a review will mean anyone arrested in Bolton will be taken outside the borough for questioning.
Instead, prisoners could be dealt with in Bury, Swinton or Wigan.
Solicitors have claimed the loss of 19 cells at the town’s divisional headquarters in Scholey Street, Burnden, will have a negative impact for officers and the public.
The building only opened 10 years ago and replaced the old Bolton Central HQ in Howell Croft.
A report reveals Bolton Police Station will ‘remain part of GMP’s custody estate’ but, from August 1 ‘it will only be used for custody cases in exceptional circumstances.’
The report adds: “Bolton-based arrests, from that date, will be directed to custody suites in neighbouring police stations. The location of the arrest will determine which custody suite deals with the matter.”
The current number of Bolton residents stands at 279,000 but this is set to increase by 33,480 – 12 per cent – by 2035.
Supt Chris Hankinson, of Greater Manchester Police, said: “We are dealing with more people through forms of restorative justice and alternatives to custody. With the changes to local policing, which have focused on having one officer to take charge of the case, we will see shorter times in custody.
“There isn’t a need for the number of cells that we have and following on from a review into the use of our custody suite at our station on Scholey Street in Bolton a decision has now been made for this to close. The station will, however, be on standby in order to manage one-off events or to support short-term closures of other sites.
“I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the people of Greater Manchester that the service that we provide will not be affected. We will continue to prioritise working with partner agencies to intervene at the earliest opportunity to try and divert people from ending up in the criminal justice system and to reduce the likelihood of re-offending.”
Nick Ross, of Russell and Russell Solicitors, in Bolton, said police resources and time will be wasted, and there would be a lot of inconvenience to officers, solicitors and innocent people who are wrongly arrested.
“For a town like Bolton not to have an effective police station with a custody office is pretty intolerable,” he said.
Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, said: “Bolton is a big town and when somebody is arrested it is only right that they are taken to the nearest station. It helps their families and legal advisers get to them.
“This would also mean the cost of police officers travelling to and from other police stations would be higher – both the financial implication of that and the loss of time that could be spent in Bolton.”