CAT/OP/CRI/CSPRO/1 52. The Ministry of Public Security’s Protocol for the Processing, Transport and Treatment of Persons in Police Custody – section (d) on the principles governing police conduct during the processing and transport of persons apprehended and placed in police custody, paragraph 4 – establishes a standard covering the rights of persons in custody, including the right to be informed of the reason for one’s arrest, the right not to be compelled to incriminate oneself, the right to appoint a lawyer of one’s choosing, the right to communicate with a person of one’s choosing by telephone, the right to the protection of one’s physical and psychological integrity and the right to medical assistance. 53. As a means of monitoring compliance with the aforementioned protocol, police legal advisers conduct visits to police stations and carry out checks on all activities carried out by the officers, including activities related to the treatment of persons in custody. 54. In this connection, the Judicial Investigation Agency has a manual on detainee restraint and transport procedures, a detainee reception and release procedure and a special directive (No. 119-DG-2014). 55. There are various police forces in Costa Rica, the main ones being the national police force, the transport police, the border guard, the criminal investigation police and the prison police. Other specialized and municipal police forces also exist. Each police force keeps its own records; the prison police keeps both manual and systematized digital records. 56. The Ministry of Justice and Peace is fully prepared to participate in the establishment of a central detention register. The need for such a tool should be assessed, however, since it could be detrimental rather than beneficial to persons in custody, insofar as it could lead to the stigmatization of persons currently or formerly deprived of liberty, and even of their families, by giving a large number of police officers access to the background information and sensitive data collected in relation to every detention. 57. Ever since safeguards for persons deprived of liberty were successfully introduced, the trend in Costa Rica has been not to keep permanent records of detentions and for access to such records to be limited to that which is strictly necessary. For example, pursuant to the 2016 amendment of the Judicial Records and Archives Act, the time limits applicable to the deletion of entries from personal criminal records were changed to prevent stigmatization and to remove obstacles to access to the labour market for persons with a criminal record. 58. Establishing such a system would require the support and advice of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, whose extensive experience would help to ensure a prudent approach to the Subcommittee’s recommendation based on the lessons learned from the successful introduction of similar uniform registers in other countries. 59. The Ministry of Public Security ensures that all persons deprived of liberty are duly registered through instruments establishing mandatory checks on persons in custody. In this regard, section 19 of the Protocol for the Processing, Transport and Treatment of Persons in Police Custody provides that it is mandatory to keep a logbook of arrests and to fill in an arrest registration form, a template of which is included in the annexes. 60. Guidelines have been issued on the registration of information in databases managed by the Directorate General of the Police. Circular No. MSP-DM-DVURFP-109-2020 of 25 May 2020 requires, inter alia, strict respect for the protection of images of minors and the registration of all police activity in the Arrest and Seizure System, making it possible to monitor all activities carried out by police officers in respect of persons in custody. 61. The Judicial Investigation Agency uses a computerized registration and database management system, the Central Criminal Register, which contains records pertaining to the reception and release of every person taken into custody by the Judicial Investigation Agency, his or her personal details, any belongings confiscated, any injuries detected, and any medical attention provided. Currently, in view of the COVID-19 situation, the Agency has taken measures to reinforce sanitary measures and handle potential infections appropriately, in order to protect the health of its staff and the persons in its custody. 8 GE.20-17766