West Mercia Police put hundreds of children put in cells overnight in last two years
More than 800 children have been taken into overnight custody during the last two years by West Mercia Police, new figures have revealed.
The figures show that hundreds of young people under the age of 18 have been detained overnight since April 2013.
The data was revealed following a Freedom of Information request and relates to any detention of a period of more than four hours that includes the period between midnight and 8am.
In April 2013 to March 2014, there were 478 detentions of under-18s overnight.
The following year, from April 2014 to March last year, there were 360 detentions overnight, which was 118 fewer than in the previous year.
Custody Chief Inspector Michael Smith said: "West Mercia Police take the protection and welfare of children extremely seriously including when they are detained in custody. "
"We have implemented several measures to reduce the number of children coming into custody and, as a result, the number of child arrests in West Mercia has fallen from 5,491 in 2010, to under 1,500 last year.
"This is one of the most significant reductions in England and Wales and it demonstrates the effort we have made to avoid bring children into custody unless absolutely necessary.
"However, we must also recognise that there are times when children under the age of 18 do commit serious offences, and it is sometimes necessary to arrest them to allow investigations to take place. We have a robust system in place to ensure the welfare and safety of all those in custody. In these situations, partnership working is extremely important to us and we work very closely with a number of partner organisations in order to provide the right level of care to children.
"We ensure that appropriate adults are available at all times for children, and that we do not detain them for any longer than is necessary."
The data supplied after the Freedom of Information request also showed that there were only six detentions of children over a weekend period, covering the 48 hours between midnight Friday to midnight Sunday.
Last month, national figures showed a total of 22,792 children had been held in police cells overnight last year.
The youngest was a child of eight years old who had been held by Gloucestershire Police.
Holding children in police cells is generally an emergency measure when other secure accommodation is unavailable.
