A Guide to Police Custody for Political Activists (Part 2)

A Guide to Police Custody for Political Activists

4. The police cell
This is where you will spend most of your time while in custody. It is generally a small, very bare room painted a horrible vomit-yellow, containing a bench and pathetic mattress. Some have toilets.
Each cell has a buzzer used for calling the custody sergeant, or who ever has been given the duty of looking after the needs of prisoners. They may not immediately answer, but give it five minutes before trying again. Repeated pressing will only lead them to ignore you, even though they are not supposed to.

The door has a spyhole (not necessarily covered up) and a larger gap for passing stuff through. They may check up on you every hour, so don't get your hopes up every time you hear noises outside.
The only people you normally see are the police and your solicitor. It is possible that the custody sergeant may allow some one else to come and visit you, but this is very rare.

There is a requirement to feed you at mealtimes (one main meal and two light meals). However, if you have dietary requirements it is best to state them early on, and also let your solicitor know about them. This can be a hassle, and it may be worth requesting the actual boxes the food came in to check the police are not lying. Some police stations used to dealing with animal rights activists automatically stock vegan food now. Beans on dry toast is usually the best to go for. You can request drinks at any time, but note in many stations the tea & coffee comes pre-prepared cups with milk powder in so check first.

The worse part is boredom and not knowing what is happening. Plus, there is the disorientation as they usually take your watch. Nowadays people are normally put in single cells. This is part of the technique for softening you up for interviews. Thinking in these terms will help see you through. There are a number of things you can do to keep yourself occupied and stop you from getting demoralised.

Think of it as a space to catch up on stuff, never as them having won:

 a) As mentioned above, request both PACE and writing materials, as is your right.
 b) Try and get some sleep: police stations will have blankets, and reading PACE is particularly good at inducing sleep.
 c) Dance, exercise or do Tai'Chi. Again these will help you sleep, and it is a good chance to catch up on that practice you have been meaning to do for ages.


There is no harm going over the events leading up to your arrest, especially to get them clear in your mind, sort out what you did wrong, and mentally plan a statement. However, don»t dwell on it too long or it will drive you up the walls. Pacing is a technique people use to kill time but watch out for it getting too repetitive and leading to a feeling of hopelessness. Thinking about time is a very bad move.

Another tip is to not pay any attention to any noises you hear going on outside the cells, such as footsteps and jangling keys. These will lead to false hopes. The majority of them are not going to be for you; the only time to start paying attention is when you hear the locks of the door moving. As they have to keep checking on you, some of the noises will simply be them looking through the spyhole at you.

Six hours is the general length of time for your stay, as, if you are not charged, extra hours tend to be expensive for the police for when you sue for wrongful arrest. However, don't expect to be let out after six hours. They can keep you for longer if they need to, even overnight (see below). This is another reason for not bothering to watch time go by. Your solicitor will be able to tell you why they are keeping you in after a review. Often it is simply that there have been too many arrests for them to deal with, or they haven't finished preparing for the interview, so extra time is required.

After your first six hours your stay in custody has to be reviewed. After this, the review will happen every nine hours. Before charging the review has to be by an officer of at least the rank of inspector who is not directly involved in the investigation. After charging it is the custody officer.

The last thing is, in the case of sharing cells with other prisoners, to be careful what you say. It is not unknown for them to inform on you to the police, or even to be police themselves. It is good to have company, but take care. Likewise, assume that the police cell is bugged. If your companion is persistent tell them that you are too paranoid to answer certain questions or discuss what you»ve been arrested for (other than what you've been accused of being doing) in the cell.


5. Solicitors
Request one straight away, the moment you have been processed. This is one of your most important rights and should always be exercised. Even if you are experienced in the ways of police custody, it always helps to have someone acting on your behalf while you are locked up. You can only be refused a solicitor if you have been arrested for a "serious arrestable offence".

Unless you are very confident about handling yourself do not use a duty solicitor. They will not do their best for you, and you cannot trust them not to let information slip to the police on purpose or inadvertently. In towns the police and duty solicitors all know each other, and you never know an unknown solicitor's own opinions; an example is when some arrested sabs took the duty solicitor who turned out to be a hunt supporter. Many duty solicitors are ex-coppers!

There are a number of solicitors who will represent people arrested for animal rights and other political protests; use them. Preferrably sort out details before you do the demonstration or action. At least have a name of a legal firm and the town where they are based; the police will be able to contact them from these details.

If your chosen solicitor is unable to come directly, you will be given the chance to talk to them on the phone first, and they will arrange for another solicitor to come instead, who will still be better than the duty solicitor. What you need is someone who is willing to fight on your behalf to get the best possible deal and give you the best advice as opposed to someone who is bored and sees their duty as just guiding your through the process with minimal effort.

Remember not to say anything incriminating to your solicitor while in the police station. Assume every room and phone is bugged. If an inexperienced solicitor starts asking you questions, whether to get your version of events or ones that would cause you to give away certain personal details, simply say that you don't want to talk about it now and state that you don't trust the police not to be listening in. Most animal rights solicitors will not put you in this position. If your solicitor is persistent, then that is all the more reason for not answering.

Finally, asking your solicitor to ring someone on your behalf obliges them to tell the police that they are doing so, including who and why. There is little way around this. If the police are listening in they can end up causing your solicitor trouble over this, even though they are not supposed to know.


6. Interviews
See the guide to handling interviews. The main point to make is: do a no comment/silent interview regardless of what shit they throw at you. Make sure you have a solicitor present and let them know before hand that you do not intend to answer their questions.

In animal rights and environmental protests, it is expected that no-one talks. Interviews have one purpose: gathering information to convict you and your companions. If your talk, no matter how innocent it may seem at the time, leads to the conviction of someone else then you will be considered a grass, the fact published and can expect yourself to be ostracized.

The only exceptions to no comments are:

 a) when a group of you have agreed before hand what you are all going to say, AND everything else has gone to plan; or
 b) you have done an action by yourself and you can argue easily enough that you were not committing a crime, for example when doing a trespass, which is a civil offence, but you have been arrested on a criminal charge. This has been known to get people freed without charge, but make sure you know what you are doing in advance, or you could end up with the criminal charge of aggravated trespass instead.

Most convictions come from statements arising out of interviews; it is the easiest way to a successful prosecution for the police, so they will try and pressurize you. A solicitor present will help stop the more outrageous pressures, plus all interviews have to be taped and sealed by law, which stops them from tampering with them. You will be asked to sign the tapes at the end; if you have done a no comment/silent interview, then there is generally no harm in this. You may need to give it some consideration if you have given false details.

Despite anything said about it harming your defense at trial and 'special warnings', there are good reasons for no comment/silent interviews. No comment tapes rarely come to court.

Reasons you can use in court to justify your refusal to answer are:

 a) "under advice from my solicitor";
 b) you were not presented sufficient evidence that you felt you could evaluate the situation;
 c) you were too tired and/or bruised to feel that you could do yourself justice in the interview.

You should ask your solicitor to say to the police at the start of the interview that you intend to go no comment/silent. It is up to you whether you state your name at the start or not. It is best not to speak to the police from the moment you enter the interview room. An interview can last up to two hours, and there can be any number of them. They may ask you to speak to confirm your presence in the room - again you do not have to.

Listen to the questions they are asking you, even if you are not answering them. It often gives you a good idea of what sort of lines of inquiry they are going down.
You can stop an interview at any time to confer with your solicitor, should you feel the need; however the police may see this as a sign that they are getting to you.

A simple technique to avoid being intimidated by the police in an interview room is to pick a point on the floor or wall, and simply stare at it for the entire proceedings. This will also help you not to give away information through body language.

7. Charging and processing
When they have finished interviewing, you are returned to your cell while a decision will be made on what to do with you; whether to keep you in to continue their enquiries, try to have you remanded or let you go. If they are letting you go they will normally charge you, or release you on police bail (not a proper charge, but an order to turn up at the police station at a later date). They have to either charge you or let you go within 24 hours of arriving at the police station. This period can only be extended if you are being held on suspicion of committing a "serious arrestable offence".

If you are being charged & released then you will be told the details of the charges, informed about bail conditions, and then processed before being released. You are asked to sign to say you have been informed of the charges and the bail conditions imposed, and be given a copy.

You can refuse the bail conditions, but it is likely that they will keep you in overnight and bring before the magistrates the next day, who will probably impose the same bail conditions anyway. The decision is up to you, and needs to be evaluated according to the situation. For most people, it is a case of accepting the bail. It is when the restrictions imposed will far outweigh the alleged crime that you refuse to accept them, but seek advice from your solicitor. Sometimes, refusing bail has resulted in people being simply chucked out of the police station, as the police are not prepared to deal with the extra paper work and hassle you will cause them, but don't bet on it. Also you can ask the custody sergeant to alter the bail conditions giving reasons why - he may accept, particularly if a solicitor speaks on your behalf. Most people accept even draconian bail conditions and apply to have them dropped at the court appearance.

Processing involves them taking your fingerprints, photo and DNA. You can resist, but they are allowed to use 'reasonable' force to take them. In the case of fingerprints, this can be forcibly seizing your hands to get your prints. For DNA they normally use sterile disposable toothbrushes to gather cells from the inside of your mouth. If you refuse then they can rip some hair out of your head. The DNA sample is then sealed in a bag and labeled; watch them label it; they must get your name, date of birth and time of sampling correct - if they don't then it may be inadmissible in court.

 If they ask for your date of birth, don't answer (this is where the tactic of no conversation comes in particularly useful). They are now allowed to take your photograph by force, even before charge. They can sometimes forcibly take your fingerprints and DNA before charge if an Inspector reasonably suspects that they will tend to prove or disprove your involvement in an offence. This has to be by way of a written authorization.

At some stage earlier in the proceedings they may have nicked your clothes to run forensic tests on them or to use them to identify them from CCTV. They are allowed to do this, though the rules of searching still apply. They can take all items they determine as being necessary to their investigation. In return they are supposed to supply an 'adequate' replacement. This can either be tracksuit & pumps or, worse, a paper jumpsuit.

They must return all property that they are not using in evidence against you. Make sure you don't leave without it. You will then be directed to leave the police station. Hopefully your friends will be waiting for you, or have made arrangements for you to be met by someone. Your solicitor may be willing to help you with this.


8. Over night stays & remand
If they think you have been a very bad person who doesn't deserve to go free, or you have refused bail conditions, or simply want to continue questioning you the next day (as when they haven't collected all the statements & evidence they feel they need to interview you properly) they can keep you in overnight. Other reasons for refusing you bail is that they think you will re-offend while out free, maybe break your bail conditions, or that you will not turn up at court to answer the charges. This could be because you are on bail for other offences or have previous convictions.

If they do then you have the right to be fed properly and to 8 hours uninterrupted sleep. Though they will check up on you to ensure that you are still alive. You can ask to be provided with blankets.

If the reason for keeping you in is not for further inquires, you are normally taken to the nearest magistrate's court first thing the next day. You may have to wait all day for your case to come before the magistrates - however, you still have right of access to your solicitor who, if they are on your side, will have been keeping a track of the situation.

 You really do not want an unknown duty solicitor representing you when your freedom is at stake. The magistrates will either decide to release you subject to bail conditions, giving you a date when to return to court, or have you sent to prison to await trial. In the vast majority of cases, it will be the former. If you are remanded, you will be able to re-apply for bail at your next court appearance, which is always 7 days later.

Once free, your solicitor will stay in contact with you regarding the case, help you with Legal Aid and any queries you have.


9. Making complaints
It is not unknown for the police to make arrests simply to justify their presence at a demo, or because they dislike activists and feel like harassing you. If your charges are dropped then you have the right to sue. Even if you do not want to put in the time and energy required for suing, then you still have the right to put in a complaint.

This they hate and if enough people do it then it can have a significant effect. It is important that you take this sort of action, as it discourages police attempts to stifle legitimate protest. See the separate leaflet on how to put in complaints and sue the police.