WILTSHIRE Police held its second annual custody conference, which is the only one of its kind in the country.
The event, held at the George Inn, Longbridge Deveril near Warminster, was attended by 125 police delegates from Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Hampshire and Avon and Somerset Police.
The conference, aims to inform police on how they should treat high-risk detainees, was organised by Inspector James Reynolds of Salisbury and Melksham Police and was first held in May last year.
Inspector Reynolds said: "Wiltshire Police look after 20 thousand detainees every year and an ever increasing percentage of these attempt self harm or suicide and we are responding to that by having this conference.
"We are the only force that does this. What we are doing is promoting our high standards and saying this is what we do and saying let's learn from other forces do.
"It's about setting, meeting and improving standards of performance and care for detainees.
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"Some of the detainees walk out of custody in a better condition then when they walked in. They might not have washed or eaten for days and we give them the basic facilities.
"We've had feedback from over 60 per cent of the delegates and it was 99 per cent positive and you can't argue with that.
"I'm not aware of any other force that do this in the country. It's forward thinking and innovative and we're building on it from year to year."
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