A MISCONDUCT hearing into a former police custody sergeant - staged after the death of a Darwen woman - has been told a new computer system had been ‘stressing out’ some officers.

Kelly Hartigan-Burns, 35, had been brought into Greenbank police station in Blackburn, a disciplinary panel has been told, after she had been involved in an incident in Darwen in December, 2016.

She was said to have been jumping in front of cars, in a bid to take her own life. She was arrested later in Barley Bank Road.

Ms Hartigan-Burns was brought to Greenbank by police and, after briefly arguing and struggling with officers, was placed in a cell for low-risk detainees. Later she was found in an unresponsive state and was pronounced dead a short time later.

Former Lancashire Police officer Jason Marsden, who was on duty when Ms Hartigan-Burns was brought in, has denied breaching the professional police code of conduct and an allegation of gross misconduct.

He is not attending the misconduct hearing in Leyland but has a legal representative present.

The hearing has been told the computer system for booking in prisoners, in use at Greenbank at the time, was viewed by some Lancashire officers at the time as initially difficult to use.

It has been claimed it may have led to officers perhaps following automated computer questions rather than using their wider experience and a personal touch when speaking to detainees.

But the force’s custody trainer, Sgt Gary Wynne, said the computer system also displayed many clear features to help custody officers assess the needs and risks of each detainee, such as their physical and mental state or their use of prescription medicines, drugs and alcohol.

The disciplinary panel was given a demonstration of Lancashire Constabulary’s current computer system which is used for training officers in custody procedures.

Sgt Wynne said it is similar but not identical to the system introduced in 2016, called Connect, used by Mr Marsden.

Sgt Wynne demonstrated how the custody computer system runs through a set of questions and prompts to assess the state of each detainee taken into a police station.

Some questions require a yes or no answer. Some have boxes where the custody sergeant can write longer notes. Some questions must be answered by the sergeant – called mandatory – while others are optional and can be left blank, he said. There were also a number of ways the computer system could be operated, different routes to information, and that details entered could be changed at later points.

Changes would be recorded if a custody sergeant clicked one button but some entries would not be saved if the button was not clicked. A ‘next’ button displayed on each page throughout the process would arguably be better named as ‘save’ for clarity to users, he said.

However, he said the computer system was just one tool in the overall custody process. Custody sergeants also has access to the national police computer network, which could provide information on detainees, if they had previously been detained and could be correctly identified.

Police stations also used traditional whiteboards to write information and updates about detainees in cells. The habit of using whiteboards remained strong and offered a quick overview of detainees and cells.

Sgt Wynne said custody officers had to make an individual judgement call on each detainee based on various factors including formal procedures and their personal police experience. There was no single approach to detainees because each was different.

Regarding Ms Hartigan-Burns' needs, he said: “The custody sergeant would not automatically call out a medical professional under the circumstances described here in this case. It depends on the detainee’s medication and circumstances.”

However, other warnings had to be considered too, he said. In Ms Hartigan-Burns' case, this included computer warnings of suicide risk.

The hearing opened last week. On the first day, a video was shown capturing some of the events at Greenbank custody desk and in a corridor opposite the desk leading to cells.

The footage showed Ms Hartigan-Burns being brought into the station by police officers late at night. She was arrested at Barley Bank Street, Darwen, and had been seen on Blackburn Road earlier that night, the hearing was told.

During her police station assessment, she was seen crying, asking some questions and briefly arguing and struggling with officers who were holding her at the custody suite desk.

Sgt Marsden was seated on the other side of the desk, with his back to the camera, asking questions. She was then put in a cell for low-risk detainees, a video recording showed.

The cell Ms Hartigan-Burn was placed in was not covered by CCTV and could not be seen from the custody sergeant’s desk.

An earlier hearing was shown footage of Ms Hartigan-Burns crying as she was brought into the custody suite before struggling with officers.

The hearing continues.