Drunk tanks will cut deaths in custody, ministers told

SPECIALIST “drying out” centres could be created to hold people who are detained while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, a government-ordered review suggests.

Ministers were urged to weigh up introducing the facilities as an alternative to police custody or A&E departments. The concept is floated in a long-awaited report into deaths and serious incidents in police custody.

Figures show that between 2004-05 and 2014-15, four in five (82 per cent) of people who died in or following police custody had some link to alcohol or drugs. The report, which contains 110 recommendations and runs to nearly 300 pages, says drying out centres are widely used in Australia and have the potential to reduce deaths in police stations.

It says: “Specialist staff and on-site healthcare workers are potentially better able to give the care and observation that police custody staff may not be able to give.”

The Government should consider piloting a centre or centres in large urban areas, where it is most likely to be cost effective, according to the report.

The wide-ranging assessment, first announced more than two years ago, also warns there is no consistency of training in restraint; flags up how delays in investigations are of “grave concern”; notes the opinion of families is that police officers are seen as “above the law”; acknowledges evidence of disproportionate deaths of black, Asian and minority ethnic people in restraint-related deaths; calls for ex-police officers to be phased out as lead investigators within the IPCC; and recommends the introduction of CCTV in police vans.