Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults in Custody

Explore the complexities of safeguarding in custody settings and strengthen your ability to identify and protect vulnerable adults. Learn practical, trauma-informed approaches that balance care with accountability.

Why Join This Course

A custody suite is a high-pressure, fast-moving environment where unrecognized vulnerability can quickly spiral into an operational or medical crisis. This webinar provides custody staff and frontline officers with the practical tools needed to spot hidden indicators of vulnerability—such as neurodivergence, mental health crises, or cognitive impairments—and safely manage risk within statutory guidelines.

Why It Matters

When a vulnerable adult enters police custody, standard procedures are often not enough to guarantee their safety or protect their legal rights. Under PACE Code C, failing to promptly identify a vulnerable detainee or failing to secure an Appropriate Adult (AA) doesn’t just jeopardize the individual’s mental and physical welfare; it directly compromises the integrity of the prosecution, putting the entire case at risk of collapsing in court.

How It Helps Investigations

Safeguarding and effective investigation go hand in hand. By mastering risk-assessment frameworks and knowing when to deploy an Appropriate Adult or healthcare professional, you ensure that any subsequent suspect interviews are legally compliant, fair, and robust. It minimizes the risk of coerced or unreliable statements, ensuring that evidence gathered in custody securely withstands defense challenges at trial.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is designed for criminal justice, healthcare, and custody personnel who hold a duty of care for individuals in detention:

• Custody Sergeants and Detention Officers
• Frontline arresting officers and transport teams
• Custody Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) and Forensic Physicians
• Liaison and Diversion (L&D) team members
• Appropriate Adults and independent custody visitors

Learning Objectives

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Conduct robust vulnerability screening to identify hidden conditions (such as brain injuries, learning disabilities, or severe substance withdrawal) during the intake process.
• Apply the ‘functional test’ under PACE Code C confidently to determine exactly when a suspect legally requires an Appropriate Adult.
• Manage complex care pathways by effectively integrating custody staff, NHS Liaison and Diversion teams, and forensic medical examiners.
• Mitigate risk in high-consequence custody scenarios, including the safe management of detainees expressing self-harm or experiencing acute behavioral disturbances.