More cells being built for suspects (From Herald Series)

More cells being built for suspects

6:47pm Friday 4th December 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

NEW cells for suspected criminals are being built in Abingdon because there isn’t enough room in Oxford.

Custody facilities are being upgraded and expanded at Abingdon police station as part of a £3.3m project.

Building work off Marcham Road started in September and is due to be completed within a year.

The multi-million-pound police station was opened in 2000 by then Home Secretary Jack Straw, following the closure of the town’s police station in Bridge Street.

The number of cells in the custody area is being increased from 13 to 30.

The new facilities will reduce the need for people who have been arrested to travel between stations in the county, as well as help cope with the number of people arrested in the city.

Insp Mary Cooper, custody and criminal justice inspector at Thames Valley Police, said: “This will be an improvement to the existing facilities and an expansion at the same time.

“There are 17 cells at St Aldate’s (police station in Oxford) but because it is such an old building the expansion opportunities there are zero.

“The upgraded custody suite in Abingdon will address health and safety requirements to achieve better compliance with the requirements of the criminal justice system.

“We cannot expand the custody area at Oxford and this new facility will reduce the number of times that detainees need to be moved.

“At the moment, if Oxford and Abingdon are full then people have to be transported to Witney or Banbury.”

Ms Cooper said all the cells would be redesigned so that there were no ligature points.

She added: “We have learned from incidents elsewhere. Even a window sill can be used if someone is determined to self-harm.”

Ms Cooper added that two of the new cells would have perspex fronts so vulnerable detainees could be monitored more easily.

A strip will run around the block which can be pressed in an emergency.

Building work on the Marcham Road site has been halted temporarily following the discovery of an underground cable which needs to be diverted.

Ms Cooper said: “The whole project should take about a year and when it is finished it will provide safer and more efficient surroundings for staff, detainees and other people.”

affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)