FOI 0276-2024/25-PACE Codes of Practice

Request:

My request pertains to the Codes of Practice for people in custody, as provided under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the accompanying PACE Codes of Practice.

According to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, specifically Code C, detainees in police custody are entitled to access the Codes of Practice that outline their rights and the procedures that must be followed by the police. In light of this provision, I would like to request the following information:

Q1. Number of Copies of Codes of Practice: Please confirm the number of copies of the PACE Codes of Practice held within each custody suite for which your police force is responsible.

Q2. Requests for Codes of Practice: Please provide the number of times the PACE Codes of Practice have been requested by someone in custody within each custody suite over the past three years.

For clarity, I am referring to the Codes of Practice that detainees are entitled to read and refer to during their time in custody, as mandated by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 and its associated Codes of Practice.

Response:

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by North Yorkshire Police.  

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you.

Q1.  The number of copies of the PACE Code of Practice is not recorded separately, however they are available within each custody suite.

Q2. Please see the table below the total number of the PACE Code of Practice that has been requested by someone in custody from 01 January 2021 to 31 December 2023, broken down by custody suite.

Please note that the above figures have been obtained by carrying out a free text search of ‘codes of practice requested: yes’ within the free text ‘details’ field within the custody detention log.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.