ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the issues, and looks at the ways in which police custody was adjusted for detainees deemed vulnerable. It explores how vulnerability was defined, identified and responded to in police custody in the cities in the research, as well as examining the implications of this for police-citizen relations. The chapter argues that the effects of the coercive custody environment and coercive styles of authority were only partially mitigated for vulnerable detainees: adaptations of police custody tended only to occur when detainees visibly demonstrated their vulnerability. The police interact often with vulnerable citizens, whether as suspects, witnesses, victims and during calls for service. Vulnerability affects the fairness and integrity of the criminal justice process. In the city in the research, if a detainee indicated that they belonged to an indigenous group, this meant that custody managers were supposed to contact Aboriginal Legal Services for these detainees.
