Force spends £20,000 giving prisoners a lift home

[Standard Dave]

A police force has spent £20,000 ($37188) sending Prisoners home or back to where they were arrested. What is happening.....

Force defends £20,000 taxi bill

The force spent £21,617 on taxis in 11 months, the figures showed
A bill of more than £20,000 for sending people home from custody by taxi has been defended by Sussex Police.
The force said it used taxis and public transport to send vulnerable detainees home as part of its duty of care.

Figures for 11 months were released after the Taxpayers' Alliance requested them under Freedom of Information laws.

The alliance said other forces insisted on suspects making their own way home. Sussex Police said it was planning to use bus vouchers in some cases.

A statement issued by the force on Monday said patrolling police officers were not used to ferry people home, after the £21,617 taxi bill for the 11 months up to the end of February 2006 was revealed.

Tax bills for the average family are already too high

James Frayne
It said: "Sussex Police take the issue of managing detainees extremely seriously.

"Part of this is a duty of care extending to the circumstances of releasing people who have been in custody.

"For some years we have used public transport, including taxis, to ensure that the more vulnerable detainees are returned home or to a place where they where arrested."

The statement added that the force used a number of newer large-capacity custody centres, but they were outside the town centres.

It said it had a duty of care to detainees, and businesses and residents nearby.

James Frayne, campaign director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "Tax bills for the average family are already too high so police forces should not be adding to their problems by spending in this way.

"They should do all they can to help detainees to get home, but under no circumstances should they be putting them in taxis and picking up the bill."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/s...es/4983716.stm

[FishTail]

Not forgetting of course that any death of a released detainee within 24 hours of release is classed as a death in custody, requiring a whole load of investigation.

[Standard Dave]

Yep, but I guess lots of people will take the pi$$ if they were that vunerable they should have social services or an appropriate adult turn out anyway.

I can imagine the conversations now
PS "is there anyone who could pick you up"
D/P "no, me dad chucked me out, i can't think of any friends"
PS "ok I will just give city cabs a ring"

Funny how they manage to get into town by themselves.

[FishTail]

Always the way isn't it? The small risk of a death versus the piss taking.

We recently had a guy who was released from custody and promptly took a dive off a tall building. Still with his charge sheet in his pocket. It wasn't pretty.

[Falcata]

i rarely give prisoners a lift back home.....

[Lo523]

We had a female do that too. However our YOT or emergency social workers are of very little help, leaving the onus on the Custody Sgt. Though not many of ours get lifts home.