Response to concern for welfare report - Kent Police, July 2018
Recommendation date: 13 March 2019
Response due: 8 May 2019
Published: 6 August 2019
Death and serious injury
Domestic abuse
Welfare and vulnerable people
At 7.54pm on 31 July 2018, a woman contacted Kent Police to raise concerns regarding the welfare of her mother. The woman told the call handler that she was unable to get through to her mother and that her mother had been unwell the last time another family member had seen her. The woman explained that her mother’s ex-partner, who had a restraining order preventing him from contacting her mother, had recently been released from prison and they were concerned he had made contact. The call was graded as ‘high’ priority and attendance was requested for a welfare check. Throughout the next 48 hours, no units were deployed to carry out the welfare check. During this time the woman made two further calls to the police, and another relative also called on her behalf. At approximately 10pm on 2 August 2018, officers went to the mother’s home and found her …
Recommendations (2)
Recommendation 1
Accepted
Recommendation
During the IOPC investigation, there was a lack of clarity over the need to make an inspector aware of a Multi Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) warning linked to an incoming call, which may have contributed to the delay in … Read more
Force Response
Accepted action: The previous policy stated that domestic abuse (DA) incidents where there was a MARAC must be referred to the local inspector. There was never any requirement to notify the local inspector of a non-DA incident involving a MARAC … Read more
Recommendation 2
Accepted
Recommendation
It was also identified, during the IOPC investigation, that there are no guidelines in the incident grading policy on when a call should be prioritised by dispatch and whose responsibility it is within dispatch to ensure CADs are prioritised. Therefore, … Read more
Force Response
Accepted action: Our current Incident Grades policy says:- Dispatch will risk assess High grade incidents. They will use the PRIORITISE function. There should be no more than 5 incidents per Dispatch Filter. The PRIORITISE function will be applied to those … Read more