Chichester MP asks Home Secretary to re-open city’s police custody centre

Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal MP for Chichester, has asked the Home Secretary to back her call to re-open the Chichester Police Custody Centre. 

Police officers in Chichester “are spending a four hour round trip taking those that they’re arresting to Worthing Custody Centre when we have a perfectly fit-for-purpose custody centre in Chichester,” Jess Brown-Fuller told the House of Commons on Monday.

“Does the Home Secretary agree with me that opening Chichester custody centre would reduce time that police officers are sat in traffic and get them back on our streets,” Jess asked Yvette Cooper, pointing out that “anti-social behaviour and crime on our high streets is best tackled with a visible police presence.”

The Home Secretary agreed to raise the issue with Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne. 

The custody suite in Chichester was made non-operational in November 2018 after it was found to have the lowest usage of the six custody centres across Sussex.

Sussex Police came under fire for the decision when, as part of an investigation into private finance initiative (PFI) schemes, it was revealed the force was paying millions each year towards its contract for several custody suites - including £11.6million in 2018/19.

Katy Bourne said in February 2020 that “the decision to make Chichester custody suite non-operational was one made by the Chief Constable following a review he conducted driven by the need to make best use of resources and improve overall efficiency of our custody centres.”