Manage custody reception and welfare checks on a night shift

What is going on

It is Friday night at the district headquarters custody facility. One person is already in custody awaiting interview after a lawyer was contacted. During your shift two further people are brought in: a man arrested for assault who is intoxicated and has a cut to his hand, and a 17 year old girl arrested on a warrant who says she takes medication for anxiety. The sergeant is dealing with a disturbance at the front counter and has told you to complete the reception assessments and set the welfare check intervals. You have the Custody Management Procedure, the intake form and the Custody Register.

Your brief

Receive the two new persons into custody, complete a full intake and welfare assessment for each, set the correct welfare check interval, make the required notifications, record checks accurately in the Custody Register and escalate any risk indicator to the sergeant.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Read the Custody Management Procedure and list the reception steps, the risk indicators and the notification rules that apply to a young person and to an intoxicated person.
• Complete a Custody Intake and Welfare Assessment Form for the intoxicated man with the hand injury, recording observations, first aid given and the medical referral decision.
• Complete a Custody Intake and Welfare Assessment Form for the 17 year old, recording the medication disclosure and the time an independent person was notified.
• Create a Custody Register record for each person with the correct reason for custody, welfare check interval and risk flags, using the existing records as a guide to the standard.
• Record three welfare checks for each person at the correct interval, showing the time, the observation and your name for each check.
• Write a handover note for the sergeant that escalates the risk indicators, states the notifications made and lists anything outstanding, such as medication instructions.
• Explain what you would do, step by step, if a person in custody became unresponsive during a welfare check, citing the procedure.

What someone in this role would produce

• Two completed Custody Intake and Welfare Assessment Forms
• Two Custody Register records with six recorded welfare checks
• Written handover note to the sergeant
• Short written response on the unresponsive person scenario