6:47pm Wednesday 1st July 2009
By Steve Wright
West Yorkshire Police has said it has taken action to prevent a repeat after forensic samples were stored alongside ice cream in a fridge.
A report published yesterday followed a joint inspection last October by the Chief Inspectors of Prisons and Constabulary of 13 police custody suites in West Yorkshire, including Bradford South.
The inspectors set out recommendations for improvement after finding poor health care services; insufficient attention to the needs of women, children and immigration detainees; inadequate screening of showers and toilets; and poor management of forensic samples and DNA which “needed urgent attention and could undermine prosecutions and public confidence”.
The report said that DNA, blood and urine samples had been incorrectly stored in fridges and freezers alongside ice cream, with some improperly bagged.
West Yorkshire Police said the hair, blood, urine and fingernail samples were from people who had been eliminated from criminal inquiries.
Deputy Chief Constable David Crompton said: “They were of no further value and there was no intention of either subjecting them to analysis or putting them on the DNA database.”
The purpose-built custody suite at Bradford South was described as reasonably clean, though toilet facilities were “basic” and the showers were not private.
The Drug Interventions Programme provided at the Bradford suite was said to be “as good as anywhere we have seen”.
The West Yorkshire force detains 300 people in custody every day, many of them under the influence of drink and drugs and some with mental health problems.
Chief Superintendent Simon Willsher, head of criminal justice services for the force, said they had not waited for publication of the report to tackle the issues.
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