During some months there were as many as 93 teenagers in police custody. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Police concern over how many young people are being ordered by the courts into police custody has prompted it to start recording the numbers.
The practice has been identified by police as "posing a risk".
The Police Association also has concerns, saying youths aged between 14 and 17 "shouldn't be there" and "any number" of nights in police custody is "too high," given the risk to the individual.
Records began on 29 January this year and show during some months there were as many as 93 teenagers in police custody, but the police minister insists the measure remains a "last resort".
Month - Number remanded
29-31 January 2024 - 21
February - 93
March - 35
April - 59
May - 77
June - 40
July - 13
August - 19
September - 15
October - 24
1-13 November - 12
Police did not previously capture the data because the number of young people held in police custody when awaiting a hearing was "low". As the numbers increased, OIA documents state: "Police identified that this posed a risk."
Police said separate, earlier records have monitored the number of young people who have been held in police custody for longer than 24 hours, not those that have been "remanded by the Courts into police custody".
Under the Oranga Tamariki Act, where a young person appears before the Youth Court, the court can order that youth "be detained in police custody".
A briefing to the police minister late last year had also highlighted "system-wide capacity issues" for children and young people may present an "operational risk to police".
One of the system capacity issues was a lack of beds in Oranga Tamariki secure residences and community homes, which "increases the use of police cells".
The memo said the lack of beds can have flow-on effects for police operations and "our international obligations" - that is the requirement to separate children from adults while in custody.
Meeting international obligations
Article 37(c) of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) limits when children can be mixed with adults when detained. The convention applies to children and young people under 18 years old. New Zealand signed up to this convention in 1993, but has a reservation to Article 37(c).
That reservation relates to the "challenges of providing the necessary infrastructure to be able to always segregate children from adults when they are detained," the briefing stated.
New Zealand was assessed last year on the implementation of the convention, and the committee made 50 concluding observations.
The minister's briefing noted the observations most relevant to police, which the committee remained seriously concerned about, saying the "goal of separating children from adults in all places of detention is still not reached."
"Children aged 14-17 can be remanded in police custody," it continued, "after their first court appearance in the youth justice system, for an indeterminate duration pending transfer to another facility."
Police Minister Mark Mitchell said in a statement it was a decision for the Youth Court, but remand in police custody was a "last resort".
"Young people can be remanded into police custody following appearance in Youth Court where the court has decided that the young person is likely to be violent or abscond if they are released, and that Oranga Tamariki does not have suitable facilities available for the safe detention of the young person."
When asked if he was concerned about the "flow-on effects" mentioned, he acknowledged "police cells are not designed for the ongoing custody of young people".
He said police had international obligations not to mix young people with adults when they were detained, and that this was managed operationally. But he said: "Large numbers of young people being detained can put pressure on police custody space due to the requirement to separate young people from adults."
"Police's preference is that there are always suitable facilities available for young people who the Youth Court has determined need to be held in custody so that police cells are not required."
'They don't belong in a cell'
Police Association head Chris Cahill said it should not be happening at all, and that it was "very concerning" so many youth were still "locked up in police cells".
"They don't belong in a police cell that's been recognised by numerous agencies for many years, and they shouldn't be there."
Cahill said Oranga Tamariki were clearly "not in a position to provide the beds that are required, whether that's secure beds or beds in the community".
But that was not "an excuse that should then leave police having to look after these offenders".
"It's not appropriate for police officers and authorised officers working for police."
Cahill explained police cells were not an "appropriate venue" for young people, and that it was often hard to segregate the youth from adult offenders, which was a "significant risk" to the police officers as well.
"The officers that have to look after these units are accountable. If something goes wrong, when the facilities aren't appropriate, the training isn't appropriate, they'll be open to criticism for the fact they were even held there in the first place."
Cahill said it was not a situation officers should be placed under, and it "certainly wasn't" a situation young persons should be put in.
He said this was something that had been accepted for many years, and had been recognised by the Children's Commissioner and the Independent Police Conduct Authority.
He added that "police themselves, I believe, would acknowledge that they'd rather it didn't happen".
In a statement, Oranga Tamariki said keeping young people out of the youth justice system was a priority.
The agency said it had been responding over the past few years to "shifts that have caused an increase in demand for youth justice custody beds."
That included the 2019 lift in the "upper age limit for youth justice, increased court volumes, a greater proportion of court cases involving remand in Oranga Tamariki or police custody, and longer custodial remands in 2023/24".
"We are continuing to focus on prevention and early intervention-focused initiatives and to work closely with other justice sector agencies, police and the Youth Court Judges to ensure that placement in residences is used appropriately."
It also noted not all young people are remanded to a Youth Justice facility, some may be remanded to a community remand home, which are designed to be an alternative to their secure residences.
At the end of October, Oranga Tamariki told RNZ there were "currently 183 beds in secure residences (across both youth justice and care & protection) and 89 beds in community homes".
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