Police custody Letter of Rights in app form?

 

AN app version of the Letter of Rights given to people in police custody has been suggested by the Faculty.

The Scottish Government introduced the Letter of Rights for Scotland in 2013, and updated it last year. Ministers are now consulting on further possible changes.

In a Response, the Faculty said that the letter should be provided in alternative formats, and cited braille and video/audio.

It added: “We also wonder whether an App might be devised which would be readily accessible to those of an age most likely to require the information. We appreciate that in a police station, any telephone would be taken possession of by the police, but in situations where perhaps attendance at a police station can be anticipated, it would be a means of the information being accessed at an early stage. It would also mean the information was always available.”

The Faculty considered the content of the letter to be easy to understand and said it covered the key information people needed to know. However, it called for the deletion of a section, ‘Getting to see paperwork’.

The Response stated: “Given that the purpose of the provision of the Letter is to provide information on an individual’s rights while being held in police custody, we thought that the reference to procedure at court was unnecessary and apt to confuse. We are firmly of the view that this part should be removed.”