Recommendations - Sussex Police, November 2023

Sussex Police · Ref: 2021/163373

Recommendation date: 21 November 2023

Response due: 16 January 2024

Published: 22 November 2023

Welfare and vulnerable people Death and serious injury

We identified organisational learning from a review of an investigation. A member of the public called 999 to report that her ex-boyfriend was at home alone, drinking and contacted her to tell her that that he was going to kill himself. The call handler reported the matter to the ambulance service and told the caller and ambulance that police would be deployed. In fact, unbeknown to the caller or the ambulance service this decision was reversed on review, and no police were deployed. At that stage it was expected that the ambulance would attend within two hours. The force called the ambulance service at 4 ½ and 7 ¾ hours after the original call and were told that the ambulance had not yet attended and took no action. After nine hours, the ambulance attended, but did not locate anyone claiming the layout of the property made it difficult. The force …

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Recommendations (4)

Recommendation 1 Accepted

Recommendation

The IOPC recommends that Sussex Police should develop its Calls for Service Policy to ensure that- The extent to which it applies to calls from members of the public is put beyond doubt;- The caller is given clear, immediate, and … Read more

Force Response

Accepted: The RCRP policy clearly outlines that police will apply RCRP procedures to calls both from member of public and partner agencies. Two separate flowcharts can be used, one of which relates to the public and the other to partner … Read more

Recommendation 2 Accepted

Recommendation

The IOPC recommends that Sussex Police review the definition and application of the incident categories ‘Concern for Safety’ and ‘Request for Welfare Check’, to ensure there is clear distinction between the categories and clarity on the appropriate policies and processes … Read more

Force Response

Accepted: RCRP policy clearly defines what a welfare check is (Appendix A points 4 and 5 differentiate between calls from partner agencies and the public). There are two separate flowcharts to follow albeit the general principles of police attendance and … Read more

Recommendation 3 Accepted

Recommendation

The IOPC recommends that Sussex Police should expand its guidance on the RETHRIVE process to give a clear indication of how to apply the process where both a welfare matter and a Crime/ Crime Related Incident have been reported. Specifically … Read more

Force Response

Accepted: From a RCRP perspective, the contact staff will ask the caller to recontact the police if the matter escalates but only following the RCRP assessment and a decision not to provide a police response, the CAD will be closed … Read more

Recommendation 4 Accepted

Recommendation

The IOPC recommends that Sussex Police develop an escalation process to be adopted in the event that a call has been passed to the Ambulance Service but the Ambulance Service is unable to resource the call. This process should be … Read moreThe IOPC recommends that Sussex Police develop an escalation process to be adopted in the event that a call has been passed to the Ambulance Service but the Ambulance Service is unable to resource the call. This process should be developed in conjunction with partner agencies and could be considered as part of the existing Op Portway multi-agency working group. Any processes that are developed should be in line with the guidance and principles underpinning the national rollout of the Right Care, Right Person initiative. This follows an IOPC review of a local investigation in which a member of the public made a 999 call to report that her ex-boyfriend was at home alone, drinking and had contacted her to tell her that that he was going to kill himself. The call handler reported the matter to the ambulance service and told the caller and ambulance that police would be deployed. In fact, unbeknown to the caller or the ambulance service this decision was reversed on review, and there was no immediate police deployment. At that stage it was expected that the ambulance would attend within 2 hours. In fact the ambulance did not attend until more than 9 hours had passed and because of the layout of the house did not locate the subject within. He was found by police officers, deceased in his bedroom, 12 hours after the original call was made. Since these events the force and the Ambulance Service have recognised the need for improved communication and implemented Operation Portway. Although this identifies routes of escalation it does not prescribe the content of the process, adequately address the issues highlighted by this recommendation or give clear guidance on how to proceed when it is known that the Ambulance Service cannot in fact service the call. The IOPC is aware of the national rollout of the ‘Right Care, Right Person’ initiative, which is a programme of work that involves police and health partners working together to ensure that the correct agency is responding to calls such as concerns for welfare, mental health incidents or missing persons. The escalation process should be informed by the principles and guidance that form part of this initiative. Show less

Force Response

Accepted: There is an escalation process under Appendix A (section 7) where disputes are to be escalated to supervisors then control room inspector if still unresolved. It can then fall into the Op Portway escalation if emerging theme or area … Read more