‘Complete failure of the system’: Shocking photos reveal police cells turned into makeshift prisons- Daily Telegraph
Police stations are being turned into makeshift prisons, with cops accusing Corrective Services of “shirking” its responsibilities. And the Opposition has called for the premier to act immediately.
Alarming photos reveal police stations are being turned into makeshift prisons as holding cells overflow with sleeping accused criminals, leading the state opposition to call for immediate intervention from Premier Chris Minns.
In a cement-floored police cell intended to ideally house a maximum of two persons, six men sleep side-by-side on thin mattresses.
At another station in Sydney’s west a man who has been bail refused sleeps in a tiny holding dock, which sources say is usually a transient cell used to house people for no more than a few hours.
The shocking images provided to The Daily Telegraph come as sources say some police stations are being used to hold prisoners for more than 48 hours, despite them not being equipped with adequate facilities such as showers, proper toilets or even appropriate meals.
Nationals MP and opposition spokesman Paul Toole said police should not be playing the role of “babysitters” and labelled the situation a “complete failure of the system”, saying it put the safety of inmates and cops at risk.
“The Premier must step in immediately because his Police Minister and Corrective Services Minister have clearly lost control of the situation,” Mr Toole said.
“Our frontline police officers should be out responding to emergency situations, protecting our communities and preventing crime – not babysitting inside police stations.
“When you have police commands with individuals sleeping there for two days, it is completely unacceptable not only for the individuals involved, but it is absolutely unacceptable for police.”
Earlier this year the Police Association of NSW instructed its members to cease prisoner transfer jobs, which were draining resources at a time when the force is more than 4500 officers shy of its ideal strength.
Then, in July, police and corrections agreed that cops would do regional transfers for the next 18 months only – in which time corrections would carry out metropolitan transfers, ahead of a transition period to doing them statewide.
PANSW president Kevin Morton said corrections are now “shirking” their responsibilities in the knowledge police will continue to be “universal problem solvers”.
“Officers are being asked to perform statewide proactive operations, such as RBT and knife searches, at the same time they are cracking down on domestic violence and fighting a war on tobacco and organised crime, to stop the public place shootings,” Mr Morton said.
“It’s time for these other agencies to step up and release our officers from being the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week universal, problem solvers, and do their work.”
The Minns government said staffing shortages across corrective services was one of several reasons for overflowing police cells, as well as significant recent arrests under domestic violence crackdown Operation Amarok and anti-gang super squad Taskforce Falcon.
“NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW are working closely together to manage temporary pressures in the system and ensure people in custody are dealt with safely and appropriately,” a government spokesman said.
“The Government will continue to support both agencies to ensure police can focus on frontline duties, and people in custody are managed safely and securely.”
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