{"id":52265,"date":"2015-01-08T12:23:03","date_gmt":"2015-01-08T12:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=af7e2a6ed1d9a949ef6e5bac57ef21da"},"modified":"2015-01-08T12:23:03","modified_gmt":"2015-01-08T12:23:03","slug":"news-story-crime-news-digital-devices-in-courts-police-stations-or-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=52265","title":{"rendered":"News story: Crime news: digital devices in courts, police stations or prisons"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Anyone blocked from taking digital devices into courts, police stations or prison premises needs to know what to do to prevent future problems.<\/p>\n<p>Your response will vary depending on whether the building is a court, police station or prison. <\/p>\n<h3 id=\"courts\">Courts<\/h3>\n<p>Guidance issued by the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) in March 2012 states:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">legal advisers\/defence practitioners are authorised to bring into court holding cells\/areas IT equipment\u2026 necessary for consultation with their clients and on\u2026 cases on which they are engaged with that particular client.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The equipment you can use includes mobile phones in the wider courthouse. But they should be switched off and out of sight in the courtroom itself.<\/p>\n<p>You should email the CJS efficiency programme if you have an issue \u2013 see below. This should include: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>your name and the name of your firm <\/li>\n<li>date and court where the problem was encountered <\/li>\n<li>details of the equipment and the nature of the court\u2019s objection <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"police-stations\">Police stations<\/h3>\n<p>The Association of Chief Police Officers and The Law Society agreed joint guidance in August 2011.<\/p>\n<p>This explains that the use of mobile telephones, laptops and hand held devices in custody suites allows solicitors to be:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">more effective and efficient in carrying out their duties\u201d and \u201cthe presumption should be to allow the solicitor to retain and use these devices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>It also says that:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">the custody officer will only seek surrender of any such device where there are reasonable grounds to believe that surrender is necessary to prevent unauthorised communications.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This refers to \u201cunauthorised communications being made by or on behalf of any detainee.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Problems should be put in writing and sent to the local chief constable. <\/p>\n<h3 id=\"prisons\">Prisons<\/h3>\n<p>NOMS guidance issued in March 2012 says:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">prisons should allow solicitors to bring necessary IT equipment into legal visits or implement alternative arrangements which allow solicitors to properly brief their clients electronically.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Mobile devices are permitted in open prisons if the local open prison regulations allow it.<\/p>\n<p>But in general, there is no authorisation to bring in and\/or possess mobile telephones on the prison estate. <\/p>\n<p>Send details of problems in writing to the Governor\/Director of the establishment concerned. If necessary, it can be escalated to the Deputy Director of Custody or equivalent.<\/p>\n<h3 id=\"further-information\">Further information<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"mailto:CJSEfficiency@cps.gsi.gov.uk\">CJSEfficiency@cps.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> \u2013 to send details of courthouse equipment issues, including where and when it happened<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.justice.gov.uk\/about\/criminal-justice-system-efficiency-programme\/defence-practitioners\">CJS efficiency programme: defence practitioners<\/a> \u2013 to download digital working guidelines and Prison Service Instruction extract<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.acpo.police.uk\/ProfessionalPractice\/CriminalJustice.aspx\">Professional Practice: Criminal Justice<\/a> \u2013 look under 2011 to download guidance about custody suites<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to respond if prevented from taking laptops, tablets or mobiles into buildings in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}