Drink-drivers getting off due to police cuts
Drink-drivers are getting away with breaking the law because police are having to drive for up to 1hr 45 mins to take them to the nearest custody cells, it was warned last night.
An investigation by The Daily Telegraph has found officers across Eng- land and Wales routinely have to drive suspects for more than an hour before they can process their arrest, after a third of all custody suites were closed.
It is feared that some drink-drivers are escaping prosecution because they have sobered up on the journey to the station, while officers are opting to drive other suspects home or simply giving them a ticking off to save time.
Those furthest from stations say they are living in “forgotten towns” where criminals can do as they please.
The number of custody suites has fallen by a third since 2010, from 277 to 180, the investigation found. Just three of the 43 police forces in England and Wales did not provide figures from 2010.
An analysis of the data, obtained using the Freedom of Information Act, shows that there are more than 70 towns in England which do not have a police station within 20 miles.
Over the same period, Home Office data show that the number of arrests has fallen from more than 1.3 million in 2009-10 to almost 700,000 in 2017-18.
Officers warn that cuts to police numbers combined with cuts to resources mean that if they are forced to make a round trip lasting several hours, there will be no bobbies left on the beat. Clive
Knight, custody lead for the Police Federation, said: “It is hard to ignore the knock-on effect the sale of police sta- tions and closures of custody suites has had on policing as a whole.”
The figures showed a “particular problem” with officers being “tied up for hours” driving long distances.
Mr Knight added: “It may also mean offenders ultimately escaping conviction entirely because of the length of time that has passed between the roadside breath test and the evidential sample taken in custody.”
In North Wales many towns are more than an hour from the nearest station. In Tywyn, which has a huge influx of holiday makers during the summer months, residents say crime is in danger of getting out of control. Katherine Wilson, 73, said: “We’re becoming a forgotten town.”
Insp Andrew Berry, chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Federation, warned last month that some officers were opting to drive suspects home rather than to cells to save time.
Supt Richie Green, who is responsible for the Gwynedd South area for
North Wales Police, said the distances presented a challenge “familiar to many rural forces”. They worked with neighbouring forces where possible.
North Yorkshire said facilities were “frequently reviewed” to ensure they were meeting demand. Avon and Somerset said that officers had vehicles fitted with cages to transport prisoners.