Places visited by the National Preventive Mechanism in 2011 staff member in the ECC in Olsztyn (same as in Ostrów Wielkopolski), there are times when only male police officers are on duty. In such event, all the activities related to detaining a female juvenile are performed by a female police officer from a Police station. However, there some cases were reported when this requirement was not met. Mixed gender staffing is important not only with regard to activities performed when accepting a juvenile into a Centre. Pursuant to CPT it also constitutes an important safeguard against ill-treatment in places of detention. The presence of male and female staff can have a beneficial effect in terms of both the custodial ethos and in fostering a degree of normality in a place of detention128. In response to the Mechanism’s recommendations that searches of juveniles should be performed by staff of the same gender, the Municipal Police Chief in Olsztyn announced that there were no derogations from this rule. Due to contradictory information regarding this issue, it remains within the area of interest of the NPM. In the opinion of the NPM, the Centre in Poznań deserves particular praise, since it employs a police-tutor with a degree in psychology who provides psychological counselling to juveniles. Being placed in an ECC is highly stressful, therefore it is important that juveniles receive support from a professional who can provide them with proper care. The National Preventive Mechanism recommended to: • Conduct regular training for Centre’s staff members in order to ensure that they are constantly developing their professional skills and that they are prepared to work with juveniles; • Ensure that detained juveniles are only searched by police officers of the same gender. c) Treatment In certain ECCs the NPM’s representatives discovered that police officers were conducting investigation, which does not fall within the scope of their competencies as policetutors in ECCs. When analysing the report on the activities of the ECC in Poznań, the fragment stating that police officers acquired information which could be vital for their investigation and which was later reported to Police departments in order to be further used by relevant regional Police units raised serious doubts129. Reservations were also voiced in the case of information acquired from a juvenile placed in the ECC in Ostrów Wielkopolski. The juvenile told the NMP that he was forced to describe the unlawful act which he committed. He added that in return for this information he was promised that the court proceedings would be accelerated. According to the NPM, these activities prove that juveniles’ procedural rights are not respected, and that members of staff on duty in ECCs engage in activities which should be performed by specialised bodies. The NPM also critically 128 129  See: §23 CPT/Inf (2000)13.  RPO-664999-VII-720.8.1/11. 71