Child First Custody Training and Research Pilot
The Mayor of London’s Tackling Ethnic Disproportionality in Youth Justice Action Plan included a commitment from the MPS, the MoJ and the Law Society to discuss how to better present the option to obtain legal advice for children.
Today, the MPS operates on the presumption that every child coming into custody will want legal representation. With that in place, it is important that the advice these children receive is appropriate to their needs and opportunities, and that options for diversion are considered at every stage.
Lawyers, Custody Sergeants, Appropriate Adults, Youth Justice Services, and children’s services all have a part to play in making sure this happens. It is important that training is available to these people to give them the knowledge and confidence to give appropriate advice, advocate for diversion options, communicate effectively with children and better identify welfare concerns.
An Advisory Group has been set up to develop and oversee a new pilot to provide this training. The Group includes representatives from MOPAC, the MPS, the London Boroughs of Haringey, Enfield and Lambeth, the Youth Justice Legal Centre, Youth Practitioners Association, London Criminal Court Solicitors Association and Child Rights Youth Justice CIC. Academics from University of Greenwich, University of Nottingham and Kings College London also sit on the Advisory Group.
The pilot is taking place in the London Boroughs of Haringey (Wood Green Police Station) and Lambeth (Brixton Police Station) from mid November 2024 – mid March 2025.
What does it involve?
The aim of the pilot is to address the disparity of experiences and outcomes for children at police stations and to decrease the number of children detained in police custody, the time children spend in custody and the number of children charged, by encouraging a different, child first approach.
Training has been delivered by a combination of lawyers from the Youth Justice Legal Centre, Youth Practitioners Association, London Criminal Court Solicitors Association and Child Rights Youth Justice CIC – working alongside a team of psychotherapists.
It includes:
- Training for solicitors from a range of firms and agencies who carry out duty work in either Brixton or Wood Green custody suites.
- Training for custody sergeants, PACE inspectors and other agencies who interact with children in custody including Project Engage Youth Workers, Liaison and Diversion Workers, Appropriate Adults, Youth Justice teams and Local Authority Emergency Duty Workers.
After the training has been completed, there will be some ongoing supervision and those who took part will be able to access wider support.
The project is jointly funded by the Metropolitan Police, Mayor’s Office of Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and Haringey and Enfield local authorities. Evaluation for the pilot is funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
The project will be evaluated as part of a wider piece of work commissioned by the Nuffield Foundation, which is identifying and piloting a set of Child First measures for use in police custody between July 2023 and October 2025.
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