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Police Custody

Volume 489: debated on Friday 13 March 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners were held in police cells in each police force area in each month in the last three years; and at what cost. (262466)

Operation Safeguard was activated in mid-October 2006 and ended just before Christmas 2006. It was then re-activated between 16 January 2007 and 31 October 2008. Police cells have not been used since 22 September 2008 and no police cells have been on stand by since the end of October 2008.

The following tables detail usage by police force area between October 2006 and 31 October 2008 and gives the aggregated total of the number of prisoner nights in which a police cell was used. It is not possible to ascertain how many individual prisoners these totals cover.

Invoices to the value of £14,373,500 were paid for the activation of Operation Safeguard in the 2006-07 financial year, £50,687,200 for the 2007-08 financial year and £10,790,000 for the 2008-09 financial year (up to 31 December 2008).

20062007

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Avon and Somerset

24

1

32

6

20

6

1

6

6

11

9

0

Bedfordshire

6

0

52

51

73

60

0

3

56

55

43

15

Cambridgeshire

32

118

62

23

17

132

94

174

173

0

82

195

183

155

34

Cheshire

32

71

85

105

288

117

506

562

37

321

754

935

706

21

Cleveland

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Cumbria

0

3

36

25

77

78

0

0

7

77

48

0

Derbyshire

15

52

46

51

14

137

45

19

24

2

42

38

43

30

9

Devon and Cornwall

12

26

84

10

194

131

376

314

36

167

241

209

197

36

Dorset

3

38

30

26

7

66

52

85

92

0

10

1

0

40

1

Durham

11

31

24

9

73

58

216

189

6

120

188

204

134

5

Dyfed Powys

1

34

4

99

118

186

120

0

5

2

114

0

0

Essex

199

423

387

107

196

452

406

538

563

62

332

541

538

448

204

Gloucestershire

7

0

4

1

2

3

0

0

0

0

0

0

GMP

15

96

109

381

163

504

507

69

163

184

417

446

47

Gwent

17

0

18

2

14

38

38

160

225

240

191

19

Hampshire

65

70

31

220

77

50

226

37

183

203

221

210

27

Hertfordshire

40

26

27

89

90

184

140

11

125

201

175

115

33

Humberside

30

1

18

11

8

13

0

0

0

0

0

0

Kent

85

58

192

56

177

385

362

467

428

116

359

383

410

382

129

Lancashire

54

36

175

143

296

244

23

88

189

312

220

22

Leicestershire

0

6

1

151

379

542

64

334

491

460

366

176

Lincolnshire

27

109

32

71

32

233

81

204

263

0

26

246

251

135

27

Merseyside

111

85

3

0

51

3

40

24

0

4

32

7

6

0

MET

67

266

199

293

1061

902

1294

1622

73

947

1221

1320

1108

700

Norfolk

1

0

0

2

0

1

0

7

3

5

1

0

North Wales

8

6

30

11

144

121

467

379

0

0

0

385

243

5

North Yorkshire

3

0

3

3

10

7

0

2

2

2

6

1

Northamptonshire

32

118

69

68

21

241

122

249

254

0

3

53

108

78

35

Northumbria

36

46

193

63

254

216

0

3

55

228

148

0

Nottinghamshire

50

3

22

23

60

5

0

6

12

6

1

0

South Wales

14

52

15

47

9

110

67

281

237

19

123

128

112

244

24

South Yorkshire

8

0

27

27

202

221

0

54

122

190

135

29

Staffordshire

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

0

Suffolk

27

56

29

3

134

112

182

203

0

8

132

190

141

37

Surrey

33

0

10

14

20

11

0

3

16

0

0

0

Sussex

62

152

124

16

0

14

24

47

55

0

23

28

46

9

0

TVP

81

172

180

129

36

363

246

479

328

39

214

282

319

233

59

Warwickshire

12

46

35

30

1

125

49

138

158

2

70

200

175

189

54

West Mercia

14

0

6

4

8

5

25

1

0

0

0

0

West Midlands

30

235

305

155

62

755

330

1104

950

110

617

885

1044

827

120

West Yorkshire

45

188

16

337

165

396

578

40

328

518

567

448

91

Wiltshire

8

0

2

37

22

6

0

10

0

6

0

0

Total

627

1868

2122

1942

1286

6683

4498

9631

9845

810

4950

7840

9565

7693

1960

2008

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Total

Avon and Somerset

10

25

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

157

Bedfordshire

3

66

13

0

0

0

0

0

0

496

Cambridgeshire

39

193

40

19

0

21

61

41

0

1888

Cheshire

147

846

80

0

15

65

169

236

0

6098

Cleveland

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

Cumbria

15

74

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

440

Derbyshire

33

256

34

0

0

0

15

3

0

908

Devon and Cornwall

44

210

41

0

0

15

46

65

11

2465

Dorset

6

64

4

0

0

1

17

14

3

560

Durham

15

242

13

0

14

0

51

42

0

1645

Dyfed Powys

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

683

Essex

92

200

146

10

4

23

92

68

10

6041

Gloucestershire

0

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

18

GMP

13

555

43

0

0

0

0

0

0

3712

Gwent

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

962

Hampshire

55

220

56

0

0

6

42

94

2

2095

Hertfordshire

53

206

57

0

0

0

40

39

0

1651

Humberside

4

26

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

111

Kent

179

431

260

74

4

0

0

0

0

4937

Lancashire

0

153

21

0

0

0

36

53

0

2065

Leicestershire

21

379

64

0

6

22

136

79

16

3693

Lincolnshire

0

2

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1739

Merseyside

7

34

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

409

MET

628

1340

777

162

77

299

776

290

74

15496

Norfolk

1

11

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

32

North Wales

0

339

32

0

0

5

0

77

0

2252

North Yorkshire

6

14

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

59

Northamptonshire

43

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1494

Northumbria

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

1242

Nottinghamshire

5

25

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

222

South Wales

38

337

50

0

0

53

102

135

0

2197

South Yorkshire

6

147

26

0

0

0

3

12

0

1209

Staffordshire

0

50

8

0

0

0

0

0

0

60

Suffolk

42

176

43

1

0

12

34

51

10

1623

Surrey

0

9

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

116

Sussex

10

73

0

0

0

0

83

46

11

823

TVP

87

368

81

24

0

22

64

42

0

3848

Warwickshire

100

324

50

0

0

61

85

199

74

2177

West Mercia

0

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

64

West Midlands

32

596

0

0

0

16

182

113

0

8468

West Yorkshire

26

613

61

0

0

7

147

94

0

4665

Wiltshire

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

97

Total

1766

8605

2004

290

120

630

2182

1793

211

88921