Good evening
Thanks everyone for all the helpful advice on remote working for police interviews. There is no perfect solution for all cases.
I have liaised with the custody managers at 2 of our most used stations – Kingston and Wandsworth requesting facilities to attend upon clients remotely.
I suggested
- Receiving disclosure on the telephone by the officer
- Giving advice to the detainee on the phone (in a private booth)
- If the case warrants a prepared statement, for this to be emailed to the officer and read out in interview
- Post interview consultation as 2 above.
This is subject to the detainee agreeing to telephone advice without the physical presence of the solicitor.
Here is the response from Wandsworth
This is an excellent idea – I will send a copy of your letter to our Command’s HQ and we will consider offering this London-wide.
Points 1-4 we can implement, at least at Wandsworth immediately, this will smooth the process of legal provision nicely given the current circumstances and the concerns expressed by Solicitors attending police
stations at present.
I will circulate your letter amongst our Inspectors and Custody Sgts today.
With regard to video conferencing, you are correct, we have two interview rooms which are video-link equipped, I am not entirely sure (will clarify) whether they are the same system the courts use. I suspect
not, mainly because some Met Police Stations do offer “virtual court” services for those refused bail, but Wandsworth is not one of them. At the moment the link is used for Interpreters and increasingly by Superintendents to grant extensions of detention.
Interpreters travel to “hubs” around London which I believe are inside police premises. As far as I know, that system is a closed one for the police only.
Remote video link legal advice is something I think organisationally we should explore, but in reality I can’t think of an easy technical solution that could be implemented before this awful virus somehow disappears,
or becomes far less of a risk.
Thank you for your helpful suggestion.
Marcus.
Inspector Marcus Moore
Custody Manager
Metropolitan Police | Wandsworth Police Station | 146 Wandsworth High Street | London | SW18 4JJ
Telephone 020 3276 2535
Internal 712 535
Direct Dial 020 3276 2535
Email
marcus.moore@met.pnn.police.uk
In addition I asked if interviews can take place with a mobile phone on loudspeaker and the officer was again receptive and could see no reason why this cannot be done. This was apparently done in
one case at Wandsworth this afternoon.
I have also added that disclosure and custody front sheets be emailed to the solicitor/rep – I haven’t received a response to this but I can’t see it being a problem.
It is only a small step but a helpful one at least. So if you are covering south London tonight, remote attendance should not be a problem
This firm is not accepting back up cases!
Kind regards
Joan
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From: members@mail.lccsa.org.uk <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk>
On Behalf Of sandra cacchioli
Sent: 28 March 2020 17:35
To: bridget.irving@yahoo.co.uk; Joe Mensah-Dankwah <Joemensah@foresterssolicitors.co.uk>
Cc: Chris PICKWICK <chris@pickwicksolicitors.co.uk>; Jonathan Black <jonathanb@bsbsolicitors.co.uk>; Members <members@mail.lccsa.org.uk>
Subject: Re: Common Video Platform - Remote Police Station Working
The common video platform CVP - could this be a temporary way of representing clients remotely at the police station?
The CVP is being used by the Tribunal service and scaled up fairly rapidly in last few weeks.
It's MOJ approved and is being used for private hearings.
It's a visual link with sound and can link up to 21 people at different locations - and accessed via any device with an internet connection.
To have a meeting/ hearing / conference / - one party who has a "cloud room" - bought from Kinly for £50.00 per month controls the meeting and sends other parties a link,
the benefit of solicitors having a "cloud room" is that you can lock other participants out when you need to have a private consultation with the client.
Surely something like this can be made to work?
??
Here’s my experience of advising and assisting a client on the telephone. My colleague took the call and advised last night. The OIC called me at 10:30am today. I took the usual details and told him that I proposed to deal with it all on
the phone. He said they had been told to expect that. (By the way, this was Kent Police, very cultured, in my view!). I requested a copy of the CR by email and took down his verbal disclosure. I also took his email address. I ascertained that V had not given
a statement and was not willing to cooperate. I told him I would have a consultation by phone and proposed to participate in the interview on the end of my phone. They don’t have a video link or PCU wifi but we’d see how it goes. I said I was happy for the
interview to proceed if he didn’t get reception. (I know my client, you see). Then the custody Officer called me, also in a collegiate attitude of mind. She agreed to take the hands-free phone into the cell and after my consultation, if I wanted to be in the
interview, she would see if the OIC’s phone would have enough reception to call me from the interview room. I had my chat with the client. He’s an old hand well capable of handling a no comment interview. But I still advised that in a domestic where she has
refused to give a statement, even though he had a self defence claim, it was best to go no comment. After introductions and the caution, he would answer the first question with no comment and to the rest either go no comment or just sit silently.
I waited for the call but it didn’t come. Then when I hadn’t heard from the oic I sent an email at 1:30pm asking about the result, and that I wanted to be called if there was any issue about bail. Then the oic called at 2:50pm to say there’d
been no reception in the interview room and the client was happy to do it without me. He’d gone no comment to the first question and silent the rest of the time. CPS had advised no charge so he had been released. Then the client called me from home happy at
15:29. That’s 5 hours dealing with one case without leaving my bed (well...). No reason I shouldn’t get paid the full fee.
I struggle with this idea that our clients are so very vulnerable, they have to see us to feel assisted. On average, (my stats) DPs are in the nick for 8-18 hours. When we attend, we are there for a couple of hours and only with the client
alone for half of that time. (Except, of course for your serious arrestables). How are their vulnerabilities assuaged the rest of the time when we are not there?
Foresters Solicitors Limited
Very well done and many thanks for the huge efforts and hard work by The LCCSA and individuals involved in achieving this.
On Fri, 27 Mar 2020 at 21:17, Chris PICKWICK
Evening. Does no one have the answer to my question? Harvey! Jim!
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
Date: 27/03/2020 17:55 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: RE: from the LAA update - Can claim a fee
Does there have to be a presence (whether phone or video ) during the i/v itself to claim an att. fee?
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------
Date: 27/03/2020 16:53 (GMT+00:00)
Subject: from the LAA update - Can claim a fee
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-legal-aid-agency-contingency-response?utm_source=c41c7d7f-183a-4ad9-a80c-da4e30f2da1d&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_content=immediate#financial-support
Claiming police station attendance fee
Providers are still required to provide advice and assistance to clients in custody suites.
Depending on local police practices and their own health concerns, you may not be able to physically attend on those clients.
Should an attendance be made by other means (phone or video), either because of a police force’s contingency arrangements or because current Government safeguarding guidelines mean you cannot physically, you can claim
the Police Station Attendance Fixed Fee appropriate to the location.
A file note should be kept as to the circumstances of the arrangements, confirming both the police and the client were happy to proceed without a physical attendance.
Providers should claim as usual for the Telephone Advice Fixed Fee as appropriate, but they should not claim for Telephone Advice Fixed Fee and the Police Station Attendance Fixed Fee for the same matter. A DSCC Reference
Number will also be required as normal.
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