Police custody and pre-charge bail, year ending March 2024

Question 1

1.  Police custody

Accepted Answer

Police custody statistics in this chapter are designated as Official Statistics in Development.

In the year ending March 2024 (based on subsets of forces and excluding unknowns):

there was a total of 901,758 detentions in custody, of which 62,019 (7%) were of children (aged 17 and under)
around a third (33%) of offences for which people were in custody were ‘violence against the person’ offences, the same proportion as the previous year
over three-quarters (78%) of people in custody were of a White ethnic background, excluding data from the Metropolitan Police Service, this was 83%
people aged 21 to 30 and 31 to 40 made up the largest proportions of people in custody (26% and 30% respectively)
an ‘appropriate adult’ was called for 98% of children in custody, and 91% of vulnerable adults
an appropriate adult had either arrived with the detainee or had arrived within one hour of being called for 60% of children and almost three-quarters (72%) of vulnerable adults
45% of children taken into custody were detained overnight, the majority (88%) of which were detained pre-charge
the majority (79%) of individuals were detained one time in the year and 21% of individuals were detained on at least 2 occasions
there were 75,173 strip searches in custody, the equivalent of 8% of all detentions
there were 12 intimate searches carried out by police in the year ending March 2024, an increase of 1 compared with the year ending March 2023
based on information from 34 forces who were able to provide data for both the year ending March 2023 and the year ending March 2024, there was a decrease of 4% in the number of persons detained by police in England and Wales under part IV of Police and Criminal Evidence Act for more than 24 hours and subsequently released without charge (from 3,613 to 3,452).

1.1 Data collection and scope

It is important that both the government and the public can fully understand the profile of those in police custody and the way that police powers are used. The custody data collection was introduced in the year ending March 2022 to increase transparency and bring detention related issues to the public’s attention.

The collection was developed alongside police forces in England and Wales, a number of stakeholders such as the Independent Custody Visiting Association, and views from national documents including:

Dame Elish Angiolini’s report into deaths and serious incidents in police custody
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service custody expectations document
‘Good Police Custody’ research produced by Dr. Layla Skinns and Dr. Angela Sorsby

The police custody collection was initially introduced as a voluntary collection and became mandatory in March 2023. This year, the publication includes data from 42 out of 43 police forces on detentions in police custody (excluding Humberside due to transitioning to a new data system), and from all 43 forces on strip searches (see section 1.2 for further information on forces where data has not been included).

Individuals may be detained in custody on multiple occasions through the year. In this data collection, a unique ID is collected for both the detention and for the individual. This allows for analysis of both number of detentions and number of unique individuals. This chapter primarily focuses on number of detentions (sections 1.3 to 1.6). Analysis of number of unique individuals is presented in section 1.7. Similarly, number of strip searches and number of unique individuals strip searched is presented in section 1.8 and section 1.9.

1.2 Data quality – detentions and strip searches in custody

Although forces already record information on who has entered custody, recording processes are not consistent across police forces and the data does not always easily match the format requested through the Home Office Annual Data Requirement (ADR). As this data collection is still relatively new, many forces reported data quality issues whilst they embed new processes, or have not been able to provide data on all aspects of the ADR. For example, some information is held in free text logs, and it difficult to extract in a way that can be easily used for ADR reporting. The detentions and strip searches data has therefore been labelled as ‘Official Statistics in Development’ to indicate that there are data quality issues and should be treated with caution. The Home Office continues to work with forces and the National Policing Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to improve the quality and consistency of the data in this collection.

Humberside Police force were able to provide data on strip searches and detentions over 24 hours, but were not able to provide full data on detentions due to transitioning to a new data management system.

The intimate searches and detentions over 24 hours data collections are long-standing collections which are designated as Accredited Official Statistics.

Data is collected for all offences linked to an individual’s custody record, including both notifiable and non-notifiable offences. Comparisons to the Police Powers and Procedures arrests data collection should be made with caution as that data series collects arrests for notifiable offences only.

The strip searches data in this chapter relates to those carried out in police custody only. Data on strip searches carried out following a stop and search can be found in the ‘Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions’ statistical release.

The user guide provides further details relating to definitions, legislation and procedures, and data quality.

Ethnicity data quality

When an individual is arrested, they are asked to define their ethnicity (using the 2021 Census 19+1 categories). For the purpose of this analysis, these are grouped into the following Census 5+1 categories:

White
Black (or Black British)
Asian (or Asian British)
Mixed
Other ethnic group
not stated

In November 2022, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) changed to the CONNECT data management system. On this system, the field for the detainee’s self-defined ethnicity is not mandatory for the detention officer to complete, and since the introduction of the new system completion rates for self-defined ethnicity have fallen. In the year ending March 2024, the MPS reported self-defined ethnicity as unknown for 69% of detention records and 75% of strip search records. In comparison, 11% of both detention and strip search records for the rest of England and Wales were missing self-defined ethnicity data in the year ending March 2024.

Due to the gaps in the self-defined ethnicity data, the MPS have provided additional officer-observed ethnicity data (ethnicity as perceived by the custody officer) for the year ending March 2024. This has a higher completion rate, with information missing in 13% of detentions records and 9% of strip search records.

Officer-observed ethnicity is recorded by police using the following ONS Census 4+1 categories:

White
Black
Asian
Other
unknown

In this chapter, officer-observed ethnicity is used for MPS records where the self-defined ethnicity data is not available. For other forces, only self-defined ethnicity is used. Using this combined method, ethnicity data is missing for 11% of detention records and 10% of strip search records in England and Wales. Data on self-defined ethnicity can be found in table D_03a and SS_03b of the accompanying data tables.

A disadvantage of officer-observed ethnicity data is that it doesn’t include a ‘Mixed’ ethnicity group. People of Mixed ethnicity are reported under different ethnicity groups, such as White, Black, Asian or Other. Therefore, the proportion of people reported as Mixed ethnicity may be under-reported using this combined method.

The Home Office is working with the MPS to improve the recording of self-defined ethnicity data. Officer-defined ethnicity will be collected on a voluntary basis for all forces from the year ending March 2025 data collection.

1.3 Analysis of detentions in police custody

The following analysis presents the number of detentions in custody. Where an individual has been detained multiple times within the year, each occasion is counted separately.

As forces were not always able to provide all data requested, analysis in this chapter does not include records where information was unknown.

Excluding Humberside Police, who could not provide data, in the year ending March 2024 there were 901,758 detentions in custody, for 1.73 million offences (including non-notifiable offences). Comparing the 40 forces who provided data in both years, this was a 6% increase from the year ending March 2023 (up from 773,014 to 816,470).

Over half (56%) of all detentions in custody were of people aged between 21 and 40. Those aged 17 and under made up 7% of all detainees and those aged 61 and over accounted for 3% of all detainees.

Table 1.1: Number of people detained in police custody, by age group and selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Age group	Number	Percentage of total	2021 Census
10 to 12 years	1,802	0.2%	4%
13 to 15 years	25,640	3%	4%
16 to 17 years	34,577	4%	3%
18 to 20 years	64,300	7%	4%
21 to 30 years	233,854	26%	15%
31 to 40 years	272,762	30%	15%
41 to 50 years	165,888	18%	14%
51 to 60 years	76,046	8%	15%
61 and over	26,711	3%	26%
Unknown	178
Total	901,758

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table D_04, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Detentions and Census data excludes Humberside police force.
Census population data excludes children aged 9 or under. The age of criminal responsibility in England and Wales is 10 years old. This means that children aged 9 or under cannot be arrested or charged with a crime.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

The majority of detainees were male (84%), whilst 16% were female. A very small number (less than 0.1%) of detainees were reported as ‘other sex’. Similar proportions for male, female and other were seen for adults and children.

Similar as reported for arrests in the Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 publication, there was a greater increase in detentions of females (9%) than detentions of males (5%).

Over three-quarters (78%) of people detained in custody were White, 9% were Black or Black British, 8% belonged to the Asian group, 3% were of a Mixed ethnic background and 2% defined as belonging to any Other ethnic background.

Children detained in custody had higher proportions of individuals belonging to Black and Mixed ethnic backgrounds, as shown in table 1.2. Overall, 14% of children in custody were from a Black ethnic background, compared to 9% of adults, and 6% of children were of Mixed ethnicity, compared to 3% of adults.

The differences between adults and children for the Mixed ethnic group may reflect differences seen in the general population, (with Census 2021 data showing 2% of adults and 7% of children in England and Wales (excluding Humberside) identify as belonging to the Mixed ethnic group). However, there is less of a difference between adults and children in the general population for Black ethnic group (4% in adults vs 6% in children according to the Census 2021 population).

A smaller proportion of children in custody belonged to the Asian ethnic group than adults (6% in children versus 8% in adults). This does not reflect the general population, where a higher proportion of children are Asian (12%) than adults (9%).

Table 1.2: Ethnicity of people detained in custody, England and Wales (not including Humberside), year ending March 2024

Ethnicity	All	Adults	Children	2021 Census
Asian	8%	8%	6%	9%
Black	9%	9%	14%	4%
Mixed	3%	3%	6%	3%
White	78%	78%	72%	82%
Other	2%	2%	2%	2%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table D_01, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Figures are based on self-defined ethnicity, except for MPS records which uses officer-observed ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity was unknown.
Excludes records where ethnicity was unknown (11% of total).
Both detentions and Census population data exclude Humberside Police.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

Due to the more ethnically diverse population of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) compared with other police forces, the proportion of those detained in custody from ethnic minority backgrounds are lower in the remaining 41 police forces, as shown in table 1.3.

Table 1.3: Ethnicity of people detained in custody, England and Wales (not including Humberside and MPS), year ending March 2024

Ethnicity	All	Adults	Children	2021 Census
Asian	7%	7%	5%	7%
Black	6%	5%	8%	2%
Mixed	3%	3%	6%	2%
White	83%	83%	80%	86%
Other	2%	2%	1%	1%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table D_01, Home Office and ONS 2021 Census

Notes:

Does not include records where ethnicity was unknown (11% of total).
Both detentions and Census population data exclude Humberside and Metropolitan police forces.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.4 Reason for being in custody

Of the 1.73 million offences for which people were detained in custody in the year ending March 2024, the offence type was not known for 4% of records. Not including ‘unknowns’, the most common offence was violence against the person (33% of all offences – the same proportions as in the year ending March 2023). Non-notifiable offences accounted just under a fifth (18%) of all offences. Theft and drug offences accounted for 11% and 8% respectively (similar to last year).

One notable difference between adults and children is that children were more likely to be detained in custody for robbery and possession of weapons offences, whilst they were less likely to be in custody for non-notifiable offences, suggesting that children were detained in custody for more serious offences, as shown in figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1: Detentions in custody by offence group, England and Wales (not including Humberside), year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table D_05, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Humberside Police.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.5 Vulnerable people in custody and appropriate adults

A person may be considered vulnerable if they:

have difficulty understanding the full implications or significance or things they are told or questions they are asked
have difficulty communicating effectively about anything to do with their detention
are particularly prone to confusion or suggestibility

This may be due to a mental health condition or disorder, but this is not a requirement.

An individual is automatically considered to be vulnerable if they are aged 17 or under.

Since the year ending March 2023 publication, the Home Office has worked with police forces to make the methodologies used for reporting vulnerability more consistent between forces, and to better align reporting with the definition described in PACE Code C. Consequently the proportion of people in custody who were vulnerable reported in this section is lower than reported in previous publications. Some forces may still have data quality issues with vulnerability data. The Home Office will continue to work with forces to improve the reporting of this data.

Not all forces could provide complete data. Please see footnotes for details of forces excluded from the analysis.

Around 7% of adult detainees were reported as vulnerable^{[footnote 1]}. Vulnerability by age ranged from 6% in both the 31 to 40 and 41 to 50 age groups, to 13% in the 18 to 20 age groups. A slightly higher proportion of females (10%) were deemed vulnerable compared with males (7%), and this was true across all age groups.

Appropriate adults (AAs) protect the welfare, rights and effective participation of children and vulnerable people who are detained or interviewed as suspects. The appropriate adult is expected to:

support, advise and assist the detained person when, in accordance with the PACE Codes of Practice, they are given or asked to provide information or participate in any procedure
observe whether the police are acting properly and fairly to respect their rights and entitlements, and inform an officer of the rank of inspector or above if they consider that they are not
assist them to communicate with the police whilst respecting their right to say nothing unless they want to as set out in the terms of the caution
help them to understand their rights and ensure that those rights are protected and respected

Further information is available on the National Appropriate Adult Network website.

It is a legal requirement for children (detainees aged 17 and under) to have an AA present when they are detained in custody.

Police forces have used varied methodology for identifying whether an AA was called, and many forces have identified quality issues with AA data, stating that it is likely their figures are being under-reported. The proportion of children who had an AA called for them varied from 88% to 100% between forces. For vulnerable adults, the figure varied from 47% to 100%. The accuracy of data on the proportion of vulnerable adults who had an AA called is also dependent on the accuracy of the vulnerability data. Therefore, the following analysis should be interpreted with caution. The Home Office will work closely with police forces to better understand how this data is recorded and the impact of this on analysis.

An AA was called for 91% of vulnerable adults^{[footnote 2]}, and for 98% of children^{[footnote 3]}. In cases where an AA was not called, forces noted this may be because the detention was not authorised^{[footnote 4]}, or the person was taken to a hospital or mental health suite and did not return to custody.

If an AA was called for a child or vulnerable adult, police forces were also requested to report on the time taken for the AA to arrive, measured from the time they were called. The following analysis is based on a small number of forces and therefore should be interpreted with caution.

Half of children either had an AA arrive to custody at the same time as them (19%), or had an AA arrive within one hour (42%). In total, 88% of children had an AA arrive within the first 6 hours.

The time taken for an AA to arrive for vulnerable adults followed a similar pattern to that of children. The main difference was that a higher proportion of vulnerable adults had an AA arrive with them (35% of vulnerable adults versus 19% of children)^{[footnote 5]}.

Figure 1.2: Proportions of children and vulnerable adults by time taken for appropriate adult to arrive, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table D_06c and D_08b, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes unknowns.
Based on subsets of 16 forces for children and 13 forces for vulnerable adults.
An appropriate adult took over 24 hours to arrive for 8 (0.2%) children and 28 (0.1%) adults.

1.6 Children detained overnight

The NPCC have stated that custody should only be used as a final option for children. Specialist conditions should be given to children in custody to meet their additional needs, as per the requirements of the Concordat on Children in Custody. See the chapter 11 of the user guide for more details.

Forces were asked to report whether any children kept in custody were detained overnight. For the purposes of this data collection, the definition of overnight means they must have spent a minimum of 4 hours in custody and that at least part of this period in custody must be between 12:00am and 08:00am. The definition in this ADR collection has been agreed with the National Police Chiefs’ Council. This definition has been changed from that used for the year ending March 2022 data collection (the person detained spent at least 4 hours in custody and at least part of that time was between 12:00am to 04:00am) therefore comparisons cannot be made with the previous year.

The following analysis is based on a subset of 35 forces^{[footnote 6]}. In 1% of records from these 35 forces it was not known whether the child was detained overnight. Excluding these unknowns, under half (45%) of all children detained in custody were held overnight. This proportion was similar for both male (45%) and female (44%) children detained; however, the proportion of children detained overnight varied by ethnic group. 57% of Black children were detained overnight in contrast to 42% of White children.

Broken down by offence group, Black children had the highest rates of overnight detention across all offence groups. White children had the lowest overnight detention rate across all offence groups, except non-notifiable offences where Mixed and White children had similar rates. (Analysis excludes the Other ethnic group and fraud offence group due to low numbers.) (See figure 1.3 below.)

Figure 1.3: Proportion of children detained overnight, by offence group and ethnic group, selected forces, year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024

Notes:

Based on a subset of 35 forces.
If a child was detained for more than one offence, the detention has been counted under both offences.
Analysis for the Metropolitan Police uses officer-observed ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity was unknown.
Excludes the Other ethnic group due to low numbers.
Excludes Fraud offences due to low numbers.

Overnight detention rates vary widely by police force (from 23% to 61%). The Metropolitan Police had the highest rate of overnight detention in England and Wales, as well as the highest proportion of children in custody belonging to ethnic minority groups (excluding White minorities) (70%).

Excluding the Metropolitan Police from the analysis, the Black ethnic group still has the highest overnight detentions rate for possession of weapons offences, drugs offences, public order offences and robbery; however, the Asian group has the highest rate for miscellaneous crimes, theft offences, non-notifiable offences, and violence against the person. The White group has the lowest rate for all but 2 offence groups (drug offences and sexual offences), and the rate for the White group remains lower than the rate for the Black group for all offence groups.

Comparing the children who were detained overnight to the general custody child population, the proportion of children detained overnight who identified as Black was higher than the proportion of all children in custody who identified as Black (20% compared to 15%), whereas the proportion of children detained overnight who identified as White was slightly lower than all children in custody (66% compared to 71%).

Table 1.4: Ethnicity of children detained overnight in custody compared with all children detained in custody, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Proportions	Children detained overnight	All child detainees
Asian	6%	6%
Black	20%	15%
Mixed	7%	6%
White	66%	71%
Other	2%	2%
All ethnicities	100%	100%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; tables D_10 and SS_03b

Notes:

Does not include records where ethnicity was unknown (10% for both children detained overnight and total child detainees).
Data based on a subset of 35 forces, therefore the analysis should be interpreted with caution.

If a child was detained overnight, police forces were also asked to provide data on whether the overnight detention was pre-charge, post-charge, or both (for example, the child was detained over 2 nights and was charged during the daytime in between).

Based on a subset of 26 forces who were able to provide data, the majority (88%) of children detained overnight were detained pre-charge, 7% were detained post-charge, and 5% were detained both pre and post charge. For more information on the legislation of keeping children in custody, please see chapter 11 of the user guide.

1.7 Detentions analysis by person ID

The following analysis presents the number of unique individuals in custody. In this section, where an individual has been detained multiple times by a single police force within the year, they are counted once. Since the person IDs supplied in this data collection are unique to each police force, if one individual has been detained on multiples occasions by different forces, each time will still be counted separately. Only detentions that occurred between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 have been counted.

Of the 901,758 detentions in custody, a person ID was provided for 745,878 detentions (83%). Where person ID was known, there were 530,114 unique individuals detained on one or more occasions, of which 32,927 were children. The majority (79%) of individuals were detained one time in the year and 21% of individuals were detained on 2 or more occasions. On average, people were detained 1.4 times (1.5 for children, 1.4 for adults).

Table 1.5: Proportion of individuals detained, by how many times they were detained, selected forces, year ending March 2024

Number of detentions in year ending March 2024	Number of individuals	Percentage of individuals
1	420,960	79%
2	64,087	12%
3	21,723	4%
4	9,929	2%
5 or more	13,415	3%

Source: Police custody pivot tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; Pivot_2, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Humberside Police who did not provide detentions data, and Metropolitan and Staffordshire police forces, who were unable to provide person ID data.
Excludes detention records where person ID was not provided.

The proportion of individuals who were detained on at least 2 occasions was lower for all ethnic minority groups (excluding White minorities) compared to the White ethnic group (White 22%, Mixed 21%, Black 18%, Asian 14%, Other 13%).

It was also lower for females (17%) than for males (21%), and adults (20%) compared to children (23%).

1.8 Strip searches in custody

Section 54 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) allows a person to be searched, if the custody officer considers it necessary, to allow them to find everything that the arrested person has with them. A strip search in police custody is a search involving the removal of more than outer clothing (including shoes and socks). Conduct of these searches is covered by Code C of PACE.

Clothes and personal effects may be seized if the custody officer believes that the person from whom they are seized may use them to cause physical injury to themselves or any other person; to damage property; to interfere with evidence; or to assist them to escape. If a detainee is believed to be at risk of self-harm or of causing harm to others, clothing can be seized where necessary in order to manage risk, and replaced with anti-rip clothing.

For the year ending March 2024 data collection, Home Office guidance defined strip searches as described PACE Code C, “a search involving the removal of more than outer clothing”.

In July 2023, the College of Policing updated its Authorised Professional Practice guidance to clarify that removal of the detainee’s clothing for their own safety (ithat is, a “clothes swap”) should be recorded as a strip search. The Home Office is working with police forces to align reporting of strip searches with College of Policing guidance.

For the year ending March 2024 data collection, 12 forces stated that they broadened their definition of strip search to align with the updated College of Policing guidance, therefore their data is not comparable to the year ending March 2023.

Devon and Cornwall and Humberside police forces were unable to provide strip search data for the year ending March 2023, therefore also do not have comparable data.

17 forces stated that their data was directly comparable to last year. Of these:

9 forces did not include clothes swaps in either year
3 forces included clothes swaps in both years
5 forces confirmed that their data is comparable to the year ending March 2023; however, were unable to confirm whether the data included clothes swaps

12 forces did not provide information regarding their definition of strip search or year-on-year comparability.

Many of the police forces who use the Athena record management system stated that they were unable to exclude cases where a detainee’s clothing was swapped for comfort (for example, to change out of wet or dirty clothing); therefore, they may be over-reporting the number of strip searches.

Due to the differences in definitions used, we have not made any year-on-year comparisons in this section, and advise that data from different forces are not comparable with each other.

The following analysis presents numbers of strip searches in custody. Where an individual has been strip searched multiple times within the year, each occasion is counted separately. In the year ending March 2024, there were 75,173 strip searches in police custody. This was 8% of all detentions in custody (based on the 42 forces who could provide both custody and strip search data) - 8% of adults and 6% of children in custody.

Of all strip searches in custody, 62% were carried out on those aged between 21 and 40. Almost a quarter (24%) were aged over 40 and a small proportion were aged 17 and under (5%). As a proportion of all people in custody within the same age group, those aged 18 to 20 had the highest proportion of people strip searched (11%) in custody, whereas only 2% of people aged 61 and over in custody were strip searched, as shown in table 1.6.

Table 1.6: Numbers of strip searches, by age group and selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Age group	Number	Percentage of total strip searches	Percentage of age group strip searched in custody
10 to 12 years	23	<0.1%	1%
13 to 15 years	1,153	2%	4%
16 to 17 years	2,352	3%	7%
18 to 20 years	6,849	9%	11%
21 to 30 years	22,208	30%	9%
31 to 40 years	24,168	32%	9%
41 to 50 years	14,026	19%	8%
51 to 60 years	3,786	5%	5%
61 and over	591	1%	2%
Unknown	17	N/A	N/A
Total	75,173	100%	8%

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; tables SS_04 and D_04, Home Office

Notes:

Proportions of age group in custody are based on the 42 forces who could provide both detentions and strip search data.
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

The majority of those strip searched were male (85%), with females accounting for 15%. Male representation was slightly higher among children (91%) compared with adults.

In total, 73% of people strip searched in custody were of a White ethnic background (compared with 78% of all people in custody), 15% were from a Black or Black British background (compared with 6% in custody), 7% were of an Asian or Asian British background (same as overall in custody), 3% were of a Mixed ethnic background and 2% were from any other ethnic background (the same as for custody). However, this analysis does not take into account the offence that the person had been detained for – the ethnic breakdown of people detained in custody varied by offence group, and some offences may be more likely to lead to a strip search than others. Data to link strip search record to detention record is not collected.

The most notable differences between adults and children strip searched were that higher proportions of children strip searched were from a Black ethnic backgrounds compared with adults (23% compared with 14%); and 61% of all children strip searched were of a White ethnic background, compared with 74% of adults strip searched (see figure 1.4 below).

Figure 1.4: Ethnicity of people strip searched in custody, year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table SS_03b, Home Office

Notes:

Analysis for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) uses officer-observed ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity was unknown.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (10%).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

If the MPS is excluded from the analysis, the proportion for the White ethnic group increases (to 82%), although the proportion for children remains lower than adults (70% compared with 82% respectively). Proportions for Black and Mixed ethnic groups also remain higher in children compared with adults, see figure 1.5 below.

Figure 1.5: Ethnicity of people strip searched, selected police forces (not including MPS), year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table SS_03a, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Metropolitan Police Service.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (11%).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

As a proportion of all detentions in custody, the ethnic group most likely to be strip searched were those from a Black or Black British background (13%). Smaller proportions were reported for all other ethnic groups: 9% of detentions involving someone from a Mixed ethnic background reported a strip search, 8% of detentions for both the Asian group and those from a White ethnic background, and 8% of detentions for people from any other ethnic background.

A smaller proportion of children in custody were strip searched compared with adults across all ethnic groups. The biggest differences were in the Black ethnic group (14% of adults strip searched compared to 9% of children), as shown in figure 1.6.

Figure 1.6: Proportion of all people in custody strip searched, by ethnicity, England and Wales (not including Humberside Police), year ending March 2024

Source: Police custody data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; tables SS_03b and D_03b, Home Office

Notes:

Analysis for the Metropolitan Police Service uses officer-observed ethnicity where self-defined ethnicity was unknown.
Excludes Humberside Police.
Does not include records where the ethnicity was not known (10% of strip searches and 11% of detentions).
Due to rounding, percentages may not add up to 100%.

1.9 Analysis of strip searches by person ID

The following analysis presents numbers of unique individuals strip searched in custody. Where an individual has been strip searched multiple times by a single police force within the year, they are counted once. Since the person IDs supplied in this data collection are unique to each police force, if one individual has been strip searched on multiples occasions by different forces, each time will still be counted separately. Only strip searches that occurred between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 have been counted.

Of the 75,173 strip searches in custody, a person ID was provided for 55,324 searches (74%). Where person ID was provided, there were 44,320 individuals strip searched on at least one occasion in the year ending March 2024, of which 2,371 were children. The majority (85%) of individuals were strip searched one time during the year. 15% of individuals were searched on at least 2 occasions. On average, people who were strip searched were strip searched 1.2 times in the year.

Table 1.7: Proportion of individuals strip searched, by how many times they were strip searched, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Number of strip searches in year ending March 2024	Number of individuals	Percentage of individuals
1	37,886	85%
2	4,190	9%
3	1,179	3%
4	504	1%
5 or more	561	1%

Source: Police custody data collection, Pivot_4, Home Office

Notes:

Excludes Metropolitan and Staffordshire police forces, who were unable to provide person ID data.
Excludes cases where a person ID was not provided.

Similar to the detentions data, the proportion of individuals who were strip searched on at least 2 occasions was lower for all ethnic minority groups (excluding White minorities) compared to the White ethnic group (White - 16%, all other ethnic groups – 10%).

It was also lower for males (14%) than for females (19%), and children (11%) compared to adults (15%). This is opposite pattern to the detentions dataset where a higher proportion of repeat detentions were seen in the male and children groups.

1.10 Intimate searches

If an arrested person is believed to be hiding Class A drugs, or anything that could be used to cause physical injury, a suitably qualified person may carry out an intimate search under section 55 of PACE. This section includes data on the number of intimate searches carried out by police in England and Wales, as well as details of who conducted the search and why, on a financial-year basis. Further details can be found in the chapter 11 of the user guide.

Based on the 41 forces who provided data, there were 12 intimate searches carried out by police in the year ending March 2024, an increase of 1 compared with the year ending March 2023, in which 11 intimate searches were carried out. All 12 of the intimate searches in the latest year were carried out by a medical practitioner or other suitably qualified person.

Nine of the intimate searches were made in an attempt to find Class A drugs, with the other 3 conducted to find harmful articles. Of the 9 searches made for drugs in the year ending March 2024, Class A drugs were found in 3 cases. Of the 3 searches for harmful articles, 1 search resulted in a harmful article being found.

Eight intimate searches were undertaken on males and 4 on females. Two of the males searched were aged 17 or under.

Seven of the intimate searches were undertaken on people who self-defined their ethnicity as White, 2 were Black, 2 were of a Mixed ethnicity, and one person was Asian.

Of the 41 police forces in England and Wales who supplied data to the Home Office, 9 had carried out intimate searches in the year ending March 2024. Derbyshire carried out 3 intimate searches, Norfolk carried out 2 and the remaining 7 forces carried out one each.

1.11 Detentions in custody over 24 hours

Under section 42 of PACE, police may detain a suspect before charge, usually for a maximum of 24 hours, or for up to 36 hours when an alleged offence is an indictable one. From 20 January 2004, powers were introduced which allowed an officer of the rank of superintendent or above to authorise continued detention for up to 36 hours following an arrest. Additionally, police may apply to the Magistrates’ Court to authorise warrants of further detention, extending the detention period to a maximum of 96 hours without charge. Further details can be found in the user guide.

This section provides information on the number of persons detained for more than 24 hours who were then released without charge. It also provides details on the number of warrants for further detention that were applied for and that led to charges.

1.12 Data quality – detentions over 24 hours

Data is requested by the Home Office from the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales on a financial-year basis, though 5 forces (Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Metropolitan Police, Northumbria and Thames Valley) were unable to provide data due to technical issues (for example, retrieval from record management systems) and data quality concerns. Additionally, Cheshire, North Wales, and Warwickshire provided partial data.These forces, along with any additional forces who could not provide complete data in the year ending March 2023 (Devon and Cornwall), have been excluded from any year-on-year comparisons, as outlined in the footnotes accompanying the ‘Other PACE powers data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2023’.

The user guide provides further details relating to definitions, legislation and procedures, and data quality.

1.13 Key findings - detentions over 24 hours

In the year ending March 2024, based on the 38 forces who were able to provide data, there were a total of 3,775 persons detained by police, in England and Wales under part IV of PACE, for more than 24 hours and then released without charge (note this is likely to be a small undercount since an additional 3 forces could not include data on detentions over 36h without a warrant in their total).

Based on the 34 forces who could provide complete data for both the year ending March 2023 and March 2024, the total number of detentions decreased by 4% in the latest year (from 3,613 to 3,452).

Of those detained and then released without charge, 97% (3,651) were held for between 24 and 36 hours. A further 9 persons were held for more than 36 hours before being released without charge and 115 were detained under warrant for further detention (before being released without charge).

In the year ending March 2024, police in England and Wales (based on the 38 forces who provided data) applied to magistrates for 452 warrants of further detention. Of these applications 7 were refused, meaning warrants were granted in 98% of cases, a similar proportion to previous years. The majority of extensions (68%) were granted for an additional 24 to 36 hours (301 out of 445 warrants granted).

When a warrant of further detention was granted, this led to a charge in 63% of cases (281 cases). This proportion is in a similar region to the previous year (62%).

Source: Other PACE powers data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; tables D_01 to D_04, Home Office

Question 2

2.  Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

Accepted Answer

Statistics included in this chapter are designated as Official Statistics in Development (previously Experimental Statistics).

Pre-charge bail

In the year ending 31 March 2024:

there were 259,319 individuals whose pre-charge bail (based on 42 forces who provided data) had concluded within the financial year
compared with the year ending March 2023, there was a 47% increase in individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded, based on the 41 forces that were able to provide data for both years (up from 171,753 to 252,328)
the increase in pre-charge bails concluded is likely in part due to reforms to the pre-charge bail system through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which encourages greater use of pre-charge bail in every case where it is necessary and proportionate
where bail concluded in the financial year, 59% of individuals (where the bail duration was known) were under pre-charge bail conditions for less than 3 months
there were 451,162 offences linked to individuals on pre-charge bail, with just under half (46%) for violence against the person, and 11% for theft offences
over a quarter (29%) of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded were aged between 31 and 40 years old and 25% were aged between 21 and 30, while those aged 20 and under accounted for 18% of individuals

Released under investigation

In the year ending 31 March 2024:

there were 116,240 individuals (based on 39 forces) who had been released under investigation (RUI) and whose RUI had concluded within the financial year
a 32% decrease in individuals RUI was seen compared with the year ending March 2023, based on the 31 forces that were able to provide data for both years (down from 145,462 to 116,240)
just over two-thirds (71%) of individuals were RUI for 3 months or more (where duration is known)
there were 186,756, offences linked to individuals RUI, of these 30% were violence against the person offences, and 19% related to drug offences (when unknown offences were excluded)
those aged 21 to 30 accounted for 28% of individuals RUI, while almost a quarter (24%) of individuals released under investigation were aged 20 and under

2.1 About pre-charge bail

Pre-charge bail, also known as police bail, is granted by the police under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) to individuals that have been arrested on suspicion of a criminal offence, but where there are no grounds to keep them in detention while the investigation continues. The main purposes of pre-charge bail are:

the protection of victims and witnesses primarily linked to conditions applied to pre-charge bail, such as no contact with the alleged victim
investigative management, allowing investigations to progress to obtain evidence
suspect management, including reducing the risk of offending

Applying pre-charge bail conditions means that the police can manage a suspect effectively within the community while further investigations progress. Pre-charge bail can be made subject to conditions under the Bail Act 1976. Conditions may be necessary in order to make sure that the suspect:

surrenders to custody at the end of the pre-charge bail period
does not commit an offence while on pre-charge bail
does not interfere with witnesses
does not otherwise obstruct the course of justice

Conditions may typically include:

a ban on leaving the country, including a requirement to surrender a passport
not being allowed to enter a certain area, such as the home of the alleged victim
not being allowed to communicate with certain people, for example, victims, witnesses or known associates

If an individual breaches their conditions of pre-charge bail, they can be arrested and taken to a police station. Under PACE, the police have power of arrest where an officer has reasonable grounds for believing that conditions imposed on pre-charge bail have been breached. A breach of pre-charge bail conditions is not a criminal offence and carries no criminal penalty, although the behaviour which led to the breach may amount to a separate offence. If there is sufficient evidence at the time of the breach, officers may charge the individual for the original offence for which they are under investigation, or any later offence, and either detain them before their appearance at a magistrates’ court or release them on post-charge bail.

Following an arrest for a notifiable offence, an alternative route to pre-charge bail is to release the suspect from police custody under investigation whilst the investigation continues. Unlike pre-charge bail, suspects ‘released under investigation’ (RUI) are not subject to any conditions, nor is there a time limit on when they must return to the police station. A police force may also ask a person of interest to voluntarily attend a police station or other location to assist police with the investigation of an offence. They will be interviewed voluntarily under caution, as opposed to being arrested and then interviewed. The purpose of these interviews is to question the individual for evidence about their suspected involvement in an offence. If an individual voluntarily attends interview, they are allowed to leave unless arrested on suspicion of committing the offence.

Recent changes to the pre-charge bail system

The pre-charge bail system was reformed through the Policing and Crime Act 2017 to address concerns that individuals were being kept on pre-charge bail for long periods. This act introduced the presumption that suspects should be released under investigation, unless pre-charge bail is deemed both necessary and proportionate. Stricter controls on bail periods were also introduced, including the introduction of a limit on pre-charge bail to an initial period of 28 days as well as raised authority levels to extend this pre-charge bail period.

The pre-charge bail system has since been further reformed through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, implemented on 28 October 2022. This Act seeks to rebalance the use of pre-charge bail and release under investigation in order to encourage greater use of pre-charge bail in every case where it is necessary and proportionate. As individuals RUI are not subject to any conditions, nor is there a time limit on when they must return to the police station, these changes have been introduced to provide greater protection for both victims and suspects of crime.

The Act also made changes to the timescales and authorisation levels for periods of bail, including extending the initial applicable bail period (see glossary in the user guide accompanying these statistics) from 28 days to 3 months. Further information on these changes and applicable bail periods is included in the pre-charge bail statutory guidance.

Comparisons between pre-charge bails that concluded within the year ending March 2023 and the year ending March 2024 will therefore include cases handled under both the old and new pre-charge bail processes.

2.2 Data collected and scope

Data on the number of pre-charge bails by pre-charge bail length was collected on a voluntary basis for the first time in the year ending March 2018. This data collection was introduced to understand to what extent forces were using pre-charge bail following the reforms to conditions of the power as anecdotal evidence suggested that their use had declined.

In response to requests for more detailed data from users, and in line with ‘V4:Innovation and Improvement’ of the Code of Practice (CoP) for Statistics, for the year ending March 2021, the Home Office increased the pre-charge bail collection from aggregate-level data to incident-level data. This means that as well as pre-charge bail duration, the Home Office now receives information on the age, sex, ethnicity, offence type and outcome for each instance of pre-charge bail. The collection was also increased to include information on released under investigation, breaches of pre-charge bail conditions and voluntary attendance to an interview.

This is the fourth year that this data has been collected. Initially collected on a voluntary basis to allow forces sufficient time to make necessary changes to data recording systems, pre-charge bail data became a mandatory collection from the year ending March 2023. Data on RUI, voluntary attendance to an interview and bail breaches was also made mandatory for the year ending March 2024; however, several police forces were not able to provide certain datasets or elements of a dataset.

The analysis in this chapter is based on data received from 42 of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. However, whilst 42 forces provided data on pre-charge bail, a subset of 39 police forces provided data on RUI. 34 police forces provided data on voluntary attendance to interview, and 31 police forces provided data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions. Some of these forces identified quality concerns with their data, including partial returns.

The data collected on numbers of pre-charge bails, RUI, and voluntary attendance is intended to capture those which have concluded within the financial year and are therefore not an indication of cases which are still live or ongoing. This publication does not include data on post-charge or court bail^{[footnote 7]}.

2.2.1 Data quality and interpreting figures

The figures presented are correct at the time of publication and each year include revisions submitted by forces for any previous years.

Due to the changes made to the data collection in the year ending March 2021 and the voluntary nature of this collection, the data is somewhat incomplete, and several forces have not been able to provide complete data on pre-charge bail, RUI, voluntary attendance to interview, or breaches of pre-charge bail conditions.

Humberside Police were unable to provide any data for the year ending March 2023 and year ending March 2024 and Devon and Cornwall Police were unable to provide any data for the year ending March 2023, due to transitioning to new data management systems. To make sure data is consistent and comparable, data from these forces is not included in yearly comparisons in the data tables and commentary.

Due to technical issues with their reporting systems, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) reported that their data for the year ending March 2024 is not directly comparable to their data for the year ending March 2023. It is likely that the latest year’s pre-charge bail figures are an undercount and should therefore be treated with caution. Additionally, the MPS were unable to provide details of the outcome or duration of RUI records for the year ending March 2024, and data on voluntary attendance could not be provided.

When compiling the return for the year ending March 2024, several forces expressed difficulty with extracting the data, and as such were not able to provide certain aspects of the return, such as linked offence type or demographic details of the individual. Consequently, the analysis presented in this chapter and in the accompanying data tables is based on partial data from forces. Therefore, data in this chapter give an indicative picture only, and should be treated with caution.

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as ‘Official Statistics in Development’, to acknowledge that further development is ongoing to improve data quality. The Home Office continues to work with forces to understand the issues they face with this data collection and will consider whether any changes to the data return are needed.

Further details of specific data quality issues can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

2.3 Analysis of pre-charge bail statistics

2.3.1 Number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded

In the year ending March 2024, based on a subset of 42 police forces in England and Wales, 259,319 individuals’ pre-charge bail was concluded. This is 37% of the 703,659 arrests^{[footnote 8]} made during the same period by the same 42 forces. Comparisons should be made with caution; however, between these 2 datasets, given that an individual included in the pre-charge bail dataset may have been arrested prior to this financial year.

Based on 41 forces^{[footnote 9]} who could provide data in both years, this is an increase of 47% (or 80,575 instances of bail), up from 171,753 in the year ending March 2023 to 252,328 in the year ending March 2024. The increase in pre-charge bails concluded is likely in part due to reforms to the pre-charge bail system through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which encourages greater use of pre-charge bail in every case where it is necessary and proportionate.

The majority of forces reported an increase in the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail had concluded. Only 3 forces reported a decrease compared with the year ending 31 March 2023.

The Metropolitan Police Service accounted for the largest proportion of individuals whose pre-charge bails had concluded (12%) and, similarly, are the force with the highest number of arrests (14% of all arrests made by the 42 forces who provided pre-charge bail data). Greater Manchester Police accounted for the next largest proportion of pre-charge bails concluded (8%), in a similar region to the proportion of arrests made by the force (7%).

2.3.2 Pre-charge bail by duration

An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences at one time (for example, if an individual was arrested for possession of weapons and drug offences they may be released on pre-charge bail for both offences). In this data collection this would be recorded as one individual with 2 linked offences (2 rows of data with the same custody reference number). Although it is possible for each offence to have a different duration, most forces have recorded the same duration for all linked offences (likely based on the most serious offence). These have therefore been treated as the same instance of pre-charge bail and in the few instances where different pre-charge bail lengths were recorded for the same individual, the longest duration has been used for the following analysis. There may be inconsistencies between how forces record duration, particularly where individuals move between pre-charge bail and released under investigation. Further information about the quality of this data can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including records where the duration was unknown (4,161) and based on a subset of 41 police forces^{[footnote 10]} who provided data on duration, in the year ending March 2024, there were 255,158 instances of concluded pre-charge bail, of which:

16% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for 28 days or less
59% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for less than 3 months (including the 16% on bail for 28 days or less)
41% of individuals were released under pre-charge bail conditions for 3 months or more

Following the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the initial applicable bail period (see glossary in the user guide accompanying these statistics) has been changed^{[footnote 11]}.

Until 28 October 2022, custody officers were able to authorise an initial bail period of up to 28 days. One extension of up to 3 months could be authorised by a senior police officer at superintendent level or above. In circumstances where the police need to keep an individual on bail for longer, they would have to apply to a magistrate for further bail extensions.

From 28 October 2022, an initial bail period of up to 3 months can be authorised by a custody officer. If the necessary conditions are met, a first extension may be authorised for a further 3 months by an officer ranked inspector or above. A further, second extension of an additional 3 months (bringing the total bail period to 9 months) may be granted by an officer ranked superintendent or above. Additional extensions require the police force to apply to a Magistrates’ court for an extension. Figures for the year ending 31 March 2024, therefore include more cases handled under and new pre-charge bail processes. Due to this change, comparisons of duration with previous years should be made with caution.

Further information, including necessary conditions that must be met to extend pre-charge bail is published in the pre-charge bail statutory guidance.

Compared with the year ending 31 March 2023, the proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail for a duration of 28 days or less has fallen from 39% (based on 40 forces who were able to provide data on duration). The proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail for between 29 days and 3 months has increased from 35% in the year ending 31 March 2023 to 43% in the year ending 31 March 2024. This year-on-year change is likely partly impacted by the legislative changes to the pre-charge bail process; however, caution must also be taken in comparing between these years.

Table 2.1: Pre-charge bail durations, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Pre-charge bail duration	Number of pre-charge bails concluded	Proportion (%)
0 to 7 days	11,370	4%
8 to 14 days	8,864	3%
15 to 21 days	9,277	4%
22 to 28 days	11,563	5%
29 days to 3 months	109,057	43%
3 to 6 months	70,701	28%
6 to 12 months	28,853	11%
More than 12 months	5,473	2%
Unknown	4,161
Total	259,319

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_01, Home Office

Notes:

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Does not include Humberside police who did not provide data for the year ending March 2024.
Durham police force was not able to provide data on duration.

2.3.3 Pre-charge bail by offence type

Analysis in this section is based on all linked offences to an individual’s pre-charge bail. Due to the way in which forces record offence data and pre-charge bail data, not all forces were able to provide offence type detail for all occurrences of pre-charge bail. Of the 41 forces who provided pre-charge bail data, 7 forces were only able to provide offence type of the principal offence linked to the bail record. Therefore, figures presented in this section are an undercount of the true number of offences relating to pre-charge bail. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

In the year ending 31 March 2024, 451,162 offences were linked to instances of pre-charge bail. The most common offence for which an individual was on pre-charge bail for was violence against the person (46%), followed by theft offences (11%) and sexual offences (8%).

Figure 2.1 shows the proportion of individuals on pre-charge bail by offence type.

Figure 2.1: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by offence type, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 42 police forces.
An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences under one instance of pre-charge bail. These are counted separately in this section.

The breakdown by offence type for pre-charge bail is closely aligned to arrests data. However, theft offences account for a slightly higher proportion of arrests (14%) compared with pre-charge bails (11%). In contrast, sexual offences account for 6% of arrests but 8% of pre-charge bails. Table 2.2 shows the proportion of pre-charge bails and arrests by offence type.

Table 2.2: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails and arrests by offence type, selected police forces year ending March 2024

Offence type	Pre-charge bails	Arrests
Violence against the person	46%	47%
Theft offences	11%	14%
Sexual offences	8%	6%
Drug offences	8%	8%
Criminal damage and arson	7%	6%
Public order offences	7%	7%
Miscellaneous crimes against society	6%	5%
Possession of weapons offences	4%	3%
Robbery	2%	2%
Fraud offences	1%	1%

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_05, Home Office and Arrests summary data tables: police powers and procedures, year ending 31 March 2024; table A_07, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 42 police forces who provided details on the type of offence associated with pre-charge bail records. Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2024.
An individual can be released on pre-charge bail for multiple offences under one record of pre-charge bail, therefore, an individual instance of pre-charge bail may appear multiple times within the table.

Direct comparisons between the 2 series should be made with caution since pre-charge bails can relate to multiple offences, whilst arrests relate to the principal offence. For example, an offender may be arrested for committing 2 or more crimes (such as shoplifting and possession of drugs) but only one arrest and offence will be recorded. Within the pre-charge bail dataset, in this example both offences would be recorded and linked to the individual on pre-charge bail. Furthermore, if someone was arrested in the year ending March 2023 and put under pre-charge bail conditions which came to an end in the year ending March 2024, the individual would be recorded in different financial years within the arrests and pre-charge bail datasets.

2.3.4 Pre-charge bail by sex

Excluding the 647 records that did not include information on sex, the majority of individuals (86%) whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2024 were male. This is slightly higher than the proportion of males arrested (84% of arrests)^{[footnote 12]}. For both males and females, the most common offence groups associated with pre-charge bail was violence against the person (44% and 55% respectively). Theft offences were the second most common offence group (11% for both males and females). However, for males, sexual offences are the third most common offence group (9%), whereas sexual offences only account for 2% of pre-charge bails for females.

Males make up the majority of individuals on pre-charge bail for all offence types. However, the proportions vary. Pre-charge bail for fraud offences had the highest proportion of females (21%), and sexual offences the lowest (3%).

2.3.5 Pre-charge bail by age

Forces are asked to provide the age of the individual at the point at which they were arrested for the offence that they are on bail for. However, there may be some inconsistences in how forces record the age of individuals released on pre-charge bail due to differences in which point of time their age is recorded. For a small number of records (74) the individual’s age was not known and have therefore been excluded from the analysis below. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Table 2.3 shows the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2024 by age group. The majority of individuals released on pre-charge bail were aged 21 and above. Over a quarter (29%) of individuals released on pre-charge bail were aged between 31 and 40, and another 25% were aged between 21 and 30. A smaller proportion (18%) were aged 20 and under. These proportions are similar to the year ending 31 March 2023.

Table 2.3: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by age, selected police forces year ending March 2024

Age group	Individuals released on pre-charge bail	Proportion
10 to 17	26,631	10%
18 to 20	20,765	8%
21 to 30	65,406	25%
31 to 40	74,045	29%
41 to 50	43,838	17%
51 to 60	20,853	8%
61 and over	7,707	3%
Age unknown	74
Total	259,319

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_08, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 42 police forces who provided pre-charge bail data. Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2024.

The proportions varied by offence group, for example, despite making up just 18% of all individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded, those aged 20 and under made up 59% of all linked offences related to robbery (47% of which were aged 17 and under), 33% of possession of weapons offences and 24% of all linked drug offences. Furthermore, individuals aged 51 and over made up 10% of all individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded but made up 17% of those arrested for sexual offences.

2.3.6 Pre-charge bail by ethnicity

When an individual is arrested and released on pre-charge bail, they are asked to define their ethnicity. For the purpose of this analysis, these are grouped into the following 6 categories:

White (including White minorities)
Black (or Black British)
Asian (or Asian British)
Mixed ethnicity
Other ethnic group
not stated

Table 2.4 shows the number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2024 by ethnicity. Not including records where the ethnicity was not known (16% of all individuals whose bail concluded), 81% of individuals were White (including White minorities), 7% were Black (or Black British), and 7% were Asian (or Asian British). The remaining individuals considered themselves either of Mixed ethnicity (4%) or any Other ethnic group (2%). The proportion of individuals in each ethnic group whose pre-charge bail concluded was similar to (within one percentage point for each group) the arrests^{[footnote 13]} collection.

Table 2.4: Proportion of concluded pre-charge bails by self-defined ethnicity, selected police forces year ending March 2024

Self-defined ethnicity	Pre-charge bails concluded	Proportion of pre-charge bails concluded	Proportion of population (Census 2021)
White	175,900	81%	82%
Black (or Black British)	14,123	7%	4%
Asian (or Asian British)	15,784	7%	9%
Other ethnic group	3,620	2%	2%
Mixed	7,686	4%	3%
Not stated / unknown	42,206	N/A	N/A
Total	259,319

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_04, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding, percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 42 police forces who provided pre-charge bail data. Humberside Police were not able to provide pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2024.
Population data from the 2021 Census, England and Wales, excluding Humberside.

The ethnic breakdown of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded varied across offence groups. For all offence groups White individuals (including White minorities) made up the majority of pre-charge bails. However, Black (or Black British) individuals accounted for noticeably larger proportions of pre-charge bails for robbery (18%), drug offences (11%), and possession of weapons offences (11%), despite accounting for only 7% of all individuals whose bail had concluded. This is similar to the proportion of Black (or Black British) individuals arrested for the same offence types (17%, 11% and 11% respectively). A similar discrepancy was seen for Mixed ethnicity individuals who made up 9% of all persons on pre-charge bail for robbery offences and 6% of drug offences, despite accounting for only 4% of individuals whose bail concluded. These figures by offence group are slightly higher than the proportion of Mixed ethnicity individuals arrested for robbery offences (8%) and drug offences (5%).

2.3.7 Pre-charge bail by outcome

When an individual is released on pre-charge bail there can be multiple offences related to their pre-charge bail record which can each have a different outcome assigned to it. For example, if an individual is released on pre-charge bail for possession of weapons and drug offences they may be charged for the possession of weapons offence and receive no further action for the drug offence. Although it is possible for each offence linked to an individual to have a different outcome, the following analysis is based on the principal outcome assigned to an individual.

Some forces have expressed difficulty in providing outcomes data and there are likely inconsistencies in recording between forces. For example, many forces expressed difficulty with identifying when an instance of pre-charge bail is transferred to RUI and vice versa. Further information about these difficulties can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

The following analysis is based on 40 forces^{[footnote 14]}, and does not include 8,950 records (or 3% of pre-charge bails) where an outcome was not recorded.

The most common principal outcome for an individual whose pre-charge bail concluded in the year ending March 2024, was no further action (58% or 146,308 individuals who received this outcome), followed by a charge (16% or 40,863 individuals) and transferred to released under investigation (16% or 39,002 individuals).

Compared with the year ending 31 March 2023, the proportion of individuals released on pre-charge bail with an outcome of no further action has decreased slightly (from 63% to 58%) whilst the charge rate has increased slightly from 15% to 16%. The proportion transferred to released under investigation has increased (from 14% to 16%). Figure 2.2 shows the proportion of pre-charge bails by outcome.

Figure 2.2: Proportion of pre-charge bails concluded, by principal outcome, year ending March 2024

Source: Pre-charge bail statistics data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table PCB_06, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 40 police forces.
Does not include 8,950 unknown outcomes. Humberside were not able to provide any pre-charge bail data for the year ending 31 March 2024. Dyfed-Powys and South Yorkshire were not able to provide details on the outcome of their pre-charge bail records due to issues with their data recording system.
‘Other’ includes transfer to pre-charge bail (6,153), transfer to other law enforcement agency (479), and transfer to other police force (597).

2.3.8 Breaches of pre-charge bail conditions

Data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions is based on a subset of 31 police forces who were able to provide data.

Breach of pre-charge bail conditions is not a notifiable offence^{[footnote 15]}. As such, several forces expressed concerns with the data quality, reporting that they do not formally record breaches in a retrievable format, or that it is held on a separate system. This means data on breaches of pre-charge bail conditions is likely to be an undercount and for several forces the data only reflects instances where an individual is arrested for breach of pre-charge bail conditions. Consequently, the data is largely incomplete, so should be treated with caution.

Based on the limited data available, in the year ending March 2024, a total of 4,559 individuals breached their pre-charge bail conditions, 2% of individuals released on pre-charge bail.

2.4 Released under investigation

2.4.1 Number of individuals released under investigation

The Home Office has collected data from police forces on individuals released under investigation since the year ending March 2021. Data in this section is based on a subset of police forces in England and Wales and should therefore be treated with caution. The following analysis is based on individuals who had been released under investigation that then came to a conclusion in the year ending March 2024.

Based on 39 forces^{[footnote 16]} who provided information, in the year ending March 2024, there were 116,240 individuals whose RUI concluded. This equated to 17% of the 681,889 arrests made during the same period by the same 39 forces.

Comparing the 31 forces who were able to provide data for both the year ending 31 March 2023 and the year ending 31 March 2024, there has been a 32% decrease in released under investigations that concluded (from 145,462 to 99,202). This decrease is despite a 6% increase in arrests made by these 31 forces over this same period (from 527,076 to 558,962).

This decrease coincides with legislative changes to the pre-charge bail process, introduced from 28 October 2022 to encourage greater use of pre-charge bail over releasing individuals under investigation (see section 2.1). During this same period use of pre-charge bail by the same 31 forces increased by 46% (from 144,828 to 211,643). However, due to the incomplete nature of this data set these trends should not be used to draw conclusions about national year-on-year trends.

When looking at each individual Police Force Area, only 4 of the 31 who were able to provide data for both the year ending 31 March 2023 and the year ending 31 March 2024 reported an increase in the number of RUIs that concluded in the year ending March 2024.

2.4.2 Released under investigation by duration

An individual can be RUI for multiple offences at one time, and each offence can have a different duration of release before an outcome is assigned. For example, if an individual was RUI for shoplifting and a drug offence, in this data collection this would be recorded as one individual RUI with 2 linked offences (2 rows of data with the same custody reference number). Although it is possible for each offence to have a different length of time, most forces have recorded the same amount of time for all linked offences (likely based on the most serious offence). These have therefore been treated as the same instance of bail and in the few instances where different bail lengths were recorded for the same individual, the longest amount of time has been used for the following analysis. There may be inconsistencies between how forces record duration, particularly where individuals move between pre-charge bail and released under investigation. Further information about the quality of this data can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including the 14,985^{[footnote 17]} individuals where RUI length was not known and based on a subset of 36 police forces in England and Wales in the year ending March 2024:

13% were released under investigation for 28 days or less
29% were released under investigation for less than 3 months (including the 13% who were released under investigation for 28 days or less)
71% were released under investigation for 3 months or more

Table 2.5: Concluded released under investigation durations, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

RUI duration	Number of individual RUIs concluded	Proportion (%)
0 to 7 days	5,917	6%
8 to 14 days	2,518	2%
15 to 21 days	2,158	2%
22 to 28 days	2,142	2%
29 days to 3 months	16,140	16%
3 to 6 months	18,758	19%
6 to 12 months	24,816	25%
More than 12 months	28,806	28%
Unknown	14,985	N/A
Total	116,240

Source: Released under investigation data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table RUI_01, Home Office

Notes:

Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Includes data from a subset of 36 police forces. Durham, Lincolnshire and Metropolitan Police were unable to provide data on the duration of RUI.

2.4.3 Released under investigation by offence type

Analysis in this section is based on all offences linked to an individual’s record for release under investigation.

Of the 38 forces who provided offence data for RUI records, 7 forces were only able to provide offence type of the principal offence linked to the RUI record. Therefore, figures presented in this section are an undercount of the true number of offences relating to RUI. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

In the year ending March 2024 there were 186,756 offences linked to individuals RUI; almost a third (30%) of these were related to violence against the person, 19% for drug offences, and 13% for theft offences, excluding unknown offences (2% of all offences related to RUI). Figure 2.3 shows the proportion of individuals released under investigation by offence type.

Figure 2.3: Proportion of concluded released under investigation by offence type, year ending March 2024

Source: Released under investigation data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table RUI_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as experimental statistics.
Based on data from 38 police forces, 4 forces were not able to provide data on individuals released under investigation, whilst Derbyshire police were not able to provide data on type of offence.
Does not include 3,214 records with an unknown offence type.
An individual can be released under investigation for multiple offences under one instance of pre-charge bail. These are counted separately in this section.

The proportions across offence groups were similar to the year ending March 2024 arrests data, with the exception of violence against the person and drug offences when comparing the 38 police forces^{[footnote 18]} that provided data on offence type. Whilst violence against the person offences made up near half of all arrests (47%), just 30% of RUIs were for violence against the person offences. This may reflect the fact that RUI does not have any conditions attached to an individual’s release, and police forces may find it more appropriate to use pre-charge bail for violence against the person offences.

Direct comparisons between the 2 series should be made with caution since RUI can relate to multiple offences, whilst arrests data submitted to the Home Office relates to the principal offence. For example, an offender may be arrested for committing 2 or more crimes (such as shoplifting and possession of drugs) but only one arrest and offence will be recorded in the data collection. Conversely, one RUI will be recorded but there can still be 2 offences associated with the RUI record. Furthermore, if someone was arrested for example in the year ending March 2023 and was released under investigation which came to an end in the following financial year, the individual would be recorded in a different financial year within the RUI dataset.

The proportion of RUI and pre-charge bails differ across several offence groups when comparing the same 38 police forces. Violence against the person accounts for a lower proportion of RUI (30%) in comparison to pre-charge bail (46%), more consistent with the arrests collection (47%). However, theft (13%) and drug offences (19%), and miscellaneous crimes against society (8%) related to a higher proportion of RUI than pre-charge bail (11%, 8%, and 6% respectively).

2.4.4 Released under investigation by sex

Not including records where an individual’s sex was unknown (0.3% of RUI), 85% of individuals on RUI were male, similar to both the arrests and pre-charge bail data (84% and 86% of males respectively, when comparing across the 39 forces that were able to supply RUI data in the year ending March 2024). The most common offence related to RUI for both males (28% or 44,552 offences) and females (42% or 10,824 offences) was violence against the person.

Males consistently accounted for the majority of RUI across all offence types. However, despite accounting for 14% of all RUI concluded in the year ending March 2024, females accounted for close to a quarter (22%) of fraud offences and 20% of violence against the person offences. However, they only accounted for 2% of RUI for sexual offences, consistent with the pre-charge bail collection.

2.4.5 Released under investigation by age

The Home Office asks forces to provide the age of an individual at the time of arrest; however, inconsistences in how forces calculate the age of individuals released under investigation may still exist where some forces are only able to calculate based on other points in time. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including the 53 records where the age was unknown (or missing), almost a quarter (24%) of individuals RUI were aged 20 and under, and a further 28% were aged between 21 and 30. Those aged 51 and above made up the smallest proportion (9%). Despite accounting for 14% of all RUI offences, individuals aged 17 and under accounted for 48% of robbery, 23% of criminal damage and arson offences and 21% of possession of weapons offences.

2.4.6 Released under investigation by ethnicity

Not including records where the ethnicity was not stated (18%), the majority of individuals whose RUI concluded defined their ethnicity as White (79%, including White minorities), 7% as Black (or Black British), and 8% as Asian (or Asian British). The remaining 6% defined their ethnicity as Mixed (4%) or as any Other ethnicity (2%).

The proportions of individuals released under investigation, released on pre-charge bail and arrested by ethnicity were similar when comparing the same subset of 39 police forces. For example, the White group made up 79% of RUI compared with 81% pre-charge bail and 80% of arrests. Likewise, Black individuals made up 7% of RUI of pre-charge bails and arrests. White individuals (including White minorities) accounted for the majority of all individuals across all offence groups. For example, they accounted for 86% of all individuals RUI (where ethnicity is known) for criminal damage and arson and 85% of theft offences.

Despite representing 7% of all RUI offences, Black (or Black British) individuals accounted for 18% of RUI related to robbery and 10% of RUI related to possession of weapons offences. These proportions are similar to the arrests collection (17% and 11% of arrests, respectively).

Moreover, Asian (or Asian British) individuals made up 13% of fraud RUI offences, and 10% of sexual offences, higher than the proportion of all Asian (or Asian British) individuals RUI (8%).

2.4.7 Released under investigation by outcome

When an individual is RUI there can be multiple offences related to their RUI record which can each have a different assigned outcome. For example, if an individual is released on RUI for robbery and drug offences, they may be charged for the drug offence and receive no further action for the drug offence. Although it is possible for each offence linked to an individual to have a different outcome, the following analysis is based on the principal outcome assigned to an individual.

Some forces have expressed difficulty in providing outcomes data and there are likely inconsistencies in recording between forces. For example, many forces expressed difficulty with identifying when an instance of pre-charge bail is transferred to RUI and vice versa. Further information about these difficulties can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

Not including records where the individual’s outcome for RUI was not known (18,351 or 16%) and based on a subset of 35 forces^{[footnote 19]}, the majority (63%) of individuals whose RUI concluded were assigned a principal outcome of no further action, followed by charged (22%). A small proportion of individuals received an out-of-court disposal (6%). The remaining 10% resulted in other outcomes including transfer to pre-charge bail (2%). Figure 2.4 shows the proportions of RUI by outcome.

Figure 2.4: Proportion of concluded released under investigation by outcome, selected police forces, year ending March 2024

Source: Released under investigation data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table RUI_06, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in Development.
Based on data from 35 police forces.
Does not include 18,351 records with an unknown outcome.
‘Other’ includes transfer to other law enforcement agency (109), and transfer to other police force (464), and released under investigation (3,369).

2.5 Voluntary attendance

2.5.1 Number of voluntary attendance interviews

In the year ending March 2024, based on data from a subset of 34 police forces^{[footnote 20]} in England and Wales, 80,144 interviews were conducted following voluntary attendance. Not including records where the interview location was not known (32%), the majority (93%) of these interviews occurred at a police station. The remaining 7% occurred at another location such as a prison or home.

It should be noted that many forces stated that there is no system in place to record voluntary interviews that do not occur within a police station (such as a home). As such, the total number of voluntary interviews are likely to be inaccurate and the breakdown of location of voluntary interviews should be treated with caution as it may not reflect the locations of all interviews that occur.

Additionally, some forces expressed difficulty in identifying whether there are duplicates in their data as they did not have enough detail on records to determine if an individual was interviewed again or whether the record is duplicated in their system. Furthermore, several forces reported that they may interview multiple separate individuals several times in connection with a single offence under one custody record.

2.5.2 Voluntary attendance by offence type

In the year ending March 2024, based on the 32 forces^{[footnote 21]} that provided data on offence type, more than two-fifths (44%) of voluntary interviews were related to violence against the person. The second most common offence group was sexual offences and theft (both 12%), followed by public order offences (9%). Figure 2.5 shows the proportion of voluntary attendance of interview by offence type.

Figure 2.5: Proportion of voluntary attendance of interview by offence type, year ending March 2024

Source: Voluntary attendance to interview data tables, police powers and procedures, year ending March 2024; table VA_05, Home Office

Notes:

Due to rounding percentages may not total 100%.
Due to the provisional and incomplete nature of this dataset, these statistics have been designated as Official Statistics in development.
Based on data from 32 police forces.
Does not include 15,067 records where the offence type was unknown.
An individual can voluntarily attend interview for multiple offences under one record of voluntary interview; therefore, in this example each offence would be counted as a separate occurrence in the data.

2.5.3 Voluntary attendance by sex

Not including records where the sex was unknown (9% of interviews), the majority (73%) of individuals who voluntarily attended interview were male and this pattern was seen across all offence types.

Although females accounted for 26% of all voluntary interviews, around a third (35%) of persons attending interview for violence against the person were female, and they also accounted for 39% of voluntary interviews for fraud offences. In contrast, only 6% of individuals who attended voluntary interview for sexual offences were female, and 13% for robbery and possession of weapons offences.

2.5.4 Voluntary attendance by age

The Home Office asks forces to provide the age of an individual at the time of their first attendance of voluntary interview; however, inconsistences in how forces calculate the age of individuals who voluntarily attended interview may still exist where some forces are only able to calculate based on other points in time. Further information can be found in chapter 12 of the user guide accompanying these statistics.

A quarter (26%) of individuals who voluntarily attended interview were aged 20 and under, and a further 20% were aged 21 to 30 years old, (not including records with an unknown age, 8% of interviews). However, these proportions differed across each offence type. For example, although those aged 17 and under accounted for 19% of all offences linked to voluntary interviews, they accounted for 59% of interviews for robbery, and 38% of interviews for possession of weapons offences. Moreover, those aged 18 to 20 years old accounted for just 6% of all offences linked to voluntary interviews but made up 12% of interviews for drug offences.

Based on 26 forces. 3 forces were unable to provide data on vulnerability. A further 14 forces could only provide ‘vulnerable’ or ‘unknown’, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
Based off a subset of 24 forces. Of the 19 forces excluded from the analysis, 6 forces were unable to provide appropriate adult data, 2 forces could only provide ‘appropriate adult called’ or ‘unknown’, and 11 forces defined vulnerability off whether an appropriate adult was called (therefore reported 100% of vulnerable adults as having an AA called). ↩
Based on 37 forces. 4 forces were unable to provide data on whether an AA was called for a child. A further 2 forces could only provide ‘AA called’ or ‘unknown’, therefore have also been excluded from the analysis. ↩
A custody record must be opened for all detainees who arrive at the police station. If the custody officer believes that there are insufficient grounds for detention, they must record the reasons and release the detainee. Further information can be found on the College of Policing website. ↩
Based on subsets of 16 forces for children and 13 forces for vulnerable adults. ↩
7 forces were unable to provide data on overnight detentions. 1 additional force (Thames Valley) were only able to provide data ‘detained overnight’ or ‘unknown’, therefore have also been excluded from analysis. ↩
Post-charge or court bail is given when an individual is released from custody awaiting a court hearing or trial. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by Police Force Area for the year ending March 2024 is published in Stop and search, arrests and mental health detentions, March 2024 - GOV.UK. ↩
Excludes Humberside, who did not provide data in the year ending March 2023 and the year ending March 2024, and Devon and Cornwall, who could not provide data in the year ending March 2023. ↩
Does not include Humberside police, who did not provide data for the year ending March 2024. Durham were not able to provide data on duration. ↩
The applicable bail period is the period of time for which a suspect can be subject to pre-charge bail. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by sex, age, ethnicity, principle offence (reason for arrest) and Police Force Area for the year ending March 2024 is published in the Arrests open data tables accompanying Police Powers and Procedures Statistics: Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2024. ↩
Information on the number of arrests by sex, age, ethnicity, principle offence (reason for arrest) and Police Force Area for the year ending March 2024 is published in the Arrests open data tables accompanying Police Powers and Procedures Statistics: Stop and search and arrests, year ending March 2024. ↩
Humberside Police were not able to provide any pre-charge bail data for the latest year, while Dyfed-Powys and South Yorkshire were not able to provide outcomes data. ↩
A notifiable offence is a crime which is recorded by the police that they are required to report to the Home Office. Also known as recorded crime. ↩
Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Gwent and Humberside were not able to provide released under investigation data for the year ending March 2024. ↩
Does not include 4 police forces that could not provide data on released under investigation, and Durham and Lincolnshire and Metropolitan Police, who could not provide duration data. ↩
Does not include 4 forces that did not provide data on released under investigation and excludes Derbyshire, who could not provide data on offence type of RUI records. ↩
Does not include 4 forces that did not provide data on released under investigation. Additionally, does not include 4 forces that were not able to supply data on RUI outcomes. ↩
Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Gloucestershire, Greater Manchester, Gwent, Humberside, Metropolitan Police, Warwickshire and West Midlands could not provide data on voluntary attendance to interview. ↩
9 forces could not provide data on voluntary attendance to interview. Additionally, Essex and West Yorkshire were not able to provide data on offence type. ↩

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Applies to England and Wales

Section 1: Detentions in police custody

Section 2: Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

1. Police custody

1.1 Data collection and scope

1.2 Data quality – detentions and strip searches in custody

1.3 Analysis of detentions in police custody

1.4 Reason for being in custody

1.5 Vulnerable people in custody and appropriate adults

1.6 Children detained overnight

1.7 Detentions analysis by person ID

1.8 Strip searches in custody

1.9 Analysis of strip searches by person ID

1.10 Intimate searches

1.11 Detentions in custody over 24 hours

1.12 Data quality – detentions over 24 hours

1.13 Key findings - detentions over 24 hours

2. Pre-charge bail and released under investigation

Pre-charge bail

Released under investigation

2.1 About pre-charge bail

Recent changes to the pre-charge bail system

2.2 Data collected and scope

2.2.1 Data quality and interpreting figures

2.3 Analysis of pre-charge bail statistics

2.3.1 Number of individuals whose pre-charge bail concluded

2.3.2 Pre-charge bail by duration

2.3.3 Pre-charge bail by offence type

2.3.4 Pre-charge bail by sex

2.3.5 Pre-charge bail by age

2.3.6 Pre-charge bail by ethnicity

2.3.7 Pre-charge bail by outcome

2.3.8 Breaches of pre-charge bail conditions

2.4 Released under investigation

2.4.1 Number of individuals released under investigation

2.4.2 Released under investigation by duration

2.4.3 Released under investigation by offence type

2.4.4 Released under investigation by sex

2.4.5 Released under investigation by age

2.4.6 Released under investigation by ethnicity

2.4.7 Released under investigation by outcome

2.5 Voluntary attendance

2.5.1 Number of voluntary attendance interviews

2.5.2 Voluntary attendance by offence type

2.5.3 Voluntary attendance by sex

2.5.4 Voluntary attendance by age

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