4,000 in cells in three years Calls for end to part-time custody service

Nearly 4,000 prisoners were locked up in cells in Paisley in just three years.

Police Scotland revealed an average of almost four people were kept in custody every day.

This is despite bosses shutting the station to detainees during weekdays early last year.

Neil Bibby MSP has called for the restoration of full custody services in the town to deal with crime locally.

He said: “Paisley is the largest town in Scotland and these figures are staggering.

“They clearly demonstrate the need to reinstate a full-time police custody unit at Mill Street.

“If investment is required to upgrade the Paisley police cells, then that should happen.

“It doesn’t make any sense for police officers to be wasting time driving to and from Greenock and Glasgow when they could be out and about in the communities of Renfrewshire.

“I know a number of residents, and crucially, police officers too, who agree.

“Our police officers are doing the best they can in difficult circumstances but we need to make sure they get the support they require.

“The Scottish Government promised that the establishment of a national police force was to provide more resources for visible local policing but it looks like they aren’t getting the resources they need.”

Paisley Mill Street is one of the busiest stations in Scotland – with 3,790 people held in the three years leading up to last December.

But crooks lifted across Renfrewshire have to be driven outside of the region during the week.

Bosses axed detentions between Monday and Friday, despite huge numbers being held before the decision was made.

Between 2013 and 2015, there were 3,719 custodies at the centre.

The closures mean detainees now need to be driven to Greenock or Glasgow to be processed five days a week. 13.07.2017

The added journeys divert officers from the streets as they are forced to leave the area.

As previously revealed in the Express, it can take cops at least half an hour to drive to the stations, with queues for processing holding them back for even longer.

Police Scotland at the time insisted the move keeps staff on the front lines because officers are not taken off the street to open cells.

Police Scotland failed to comment.

It doesn’t make any sense for police officers to waste time driving to and from Greenock Neil Bibby MSP