No room in police cells over Christmas period
9:27am Friday 10th February 2012 in News
PRISON cells at Bolton’s police station suffered “operational difficulties” because they were full during the busy New Year period, a new report reveals.
The revelation follows the closure of seven of Greater Manchester Police’s 17 custody suites in a bid to save money, including the cells at Astley Bridge police station.
Because cells at Bolton were full on New Year’s Eve, police had to drive prisoners to other parts of Greater Manchester — the closest being Pendleton in Salford — to lock them up.
Cells in Bury and Chadderton were also full.
A report by Supt Alan Greene says: “The basic claim that the force can cope with reduced sites has been tested during the riots and the acute demands placed over Christmas and New Year.
The only time the actual capacity issue (every cell being full) has caused operational difficulties was on New Year’s Eve in the north of GMP — Bolton, Bury and Chadderton all reaching capacity.”
Because of the problems experienced during New Year and the riots, cells at Oldham and Stretford, which have been closed, are now kept on standby in case of the need for a large number of prisoners.
A police spokesman said: “Because the cells were full, officers would have to drive to a different custody suite, which then takes more of the officer’s time.
“It means that officers would have been held up longer in terms of processing prisoners.
“New Year’s Eve is the busiest night of the year for police.”
Officers who work in the cells at police stations across Greater Manchester, including Bolton, now specialise in managing prisoners, whereas previously they would have been manned by officers drafted in from other areas.
Closure of cells and reduction of staff has reduced the cost of running GMP’s cells from £16.6 million to £14.7 million per year.
The matter will be discussed today by the Greater Manchester Police Authority’s value for money sub-committee.
