Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of police forces in the taking of custody photographs of people charged following voluntary police interviews.

Voluntary interviews are used to question a person who is not under arrest about their suspected involvement in a criminal offence, particularly in cases where the legal threshold for arrest is not met. The decision to voluntarily interview a suspect rests with the police and there are a number of factors which must be considered when making this decision including the needs of the investigation, the necessity to arrest, potential vulnerability of the suspect, and any relevant risk factors. Where the statutory conditions for arrest are met, police should always consider whether voluntary interview or arrest would be the most appropriate approach.

The Home Office is aware of concerns raised about the use of voluntary attendance and the impact of this on the taking and retention of custody photographs and biometrics. Work is underway to ensure voluntary attendance is used appropriately by the police, especially in relation to sexual offences and options are being considered to increase capture of custody images and biometrics in future.

It is important to note that nothing in law or in the relevant statutory codes of practice prevents police from photographing suspects who attend for a voluntary interview, although force may not be used to achieve this while the suspect is not under arrest. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) provides guidance to forces on voluntary interviews which makes clear that it is good practice to photograph suspects attending voluntarily, not least because the photograph may be required for further confirmation of identity if the suspect is subsequently required to return to the police station for biometric samples (fingerprints and DNA), to be recorded after charge or conviction.

The Home Office collects and publishes data on police custody and voluntary interviews as part of the ‘Police Powers and Procedures’ statistical series, available here: Police powers and procedures England and Wales statistics - GOV.UK However this data set does not include statistics on the number of suspects whose photographs are taken in custody.