NSW cops waste hours crim-sitting: Karen Webb steps in

Police Commissioner Karen Webb has called an urgent meeting with her Corrective Services counterpart over the gridlock across the jail system that is tying up police officers and putting unprecedented strain on the front line.

Gridlock across the jails system means police are ‘babysitting’ alleged offenders for up to three days in police cells.

NSW Police are being forced to waste hours doing what is basically crim-sitting – with inmates languishing in station cells for days on end, putting an unprecedented strain on the front line.

The state of affairs is so dire that NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has called an emergency meeting this week with Commissioner of Corrective Services Leon Taylor over the issue.

Commissioner Webb says gridlock across the jails system is causing congestion, leading to “cell ramping”, with inmates who have been refused bail locked up in police stations for as long as three days – and the situation is likely to get worse.

The Commissioner told The Sunday Telegraph the problem was a capacity issue and that police stations were not designed to house prisoners for extended periods.

Sources say the reasons for the traffic jam include NSW Corrective Services being under-resourced at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre, which causes backlogs at the feeder centres – Surry Hills and Amber Laurel Correctional Centres. There is also the issue of bail courts only allowing a three-hour window because of a lack of magistrates.

Minding prisoners sometimes keeps police officers off the road for an entire shift.

“Our job is to arrest and lock people up when they break the law, we are not an indefinite departure lounge for people in custody,” Commissioner Webb said.

“This bottleneck is consuming police time and resources which could otherwise service the community.

“We need a plan to allow officers to do their job and get back out on the street.”

Sources at one Sydney command told The Sunday Telegraph that officers were furious a charged person remained in the cells for 63 hours – and then, when he finally appeared before a magistrate, was granted bail.

“It’s normal for us to have prisoners in the docks for 30-plus hours, and in some stations they don’t even have a proper cell so that means sitting in the dock for hours on end.

“It keeps us tied up and not out on the road where we should be.”

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb will hold urgent meetings this week. Picture Thomas Lisson

Babysitting alleged offenders until a magistrate can hear their bail application keeps officers off the beat.

In another station, a pregnant woman was held in custody for more than 24 hours.

In one case a crew from Mt Druitt left with a prisoner at noon and sat at Amber Laurel until 4pm.

“That’s a crew effectively off the road for the day,” a source said.

The Commissioner has jumped on the issue, launching a six-month data analysis at the start of this month to measure the impact prisoner transport is having on police staffing and resources.

Police officers are now logging their time and movement through the NSW Police Computer Aided Dispatch System. The analysis of this data will measure the real impact on policing resources.

An initial snapshot in November last year indicated the strain on police manpower was significant.

“I will be meeting with unions and corrective services to resolve this issue ASAP,” Commissioner Webb said.

“While we are happy to support our colleagues at corrective services, this issue needs to be resolved at the highest level.

“We are not minders for people in custody, we are a police force.”

The issue has spiked following the introduction of centralised bail audio visual link hearings in November last year.

Corrective Services NSW does not staff all court locations, particularly in regional areas.

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Originally published as NSW cops waste hours crim-sitting: Karen Webb steps in