IOPC recommends changes to Dorset Police missing person policies and procedures following tragic death of Gaia Pope-Sutherland

Following the tragic death of Gaia Pope-Sutherland, recommendations from the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) investigations have led to significant changes to Dorset Police’s missing person policies and procedures.

Gaia, aged 19, was reported missing by a family member on 7 November 2017 in Swanage, Dorset. Her body was discovered in dense undergrowth on a cliff top by police search teams on 18 November 2017, after a walker found discarded clothing nearby.

The IOPC made a number of recommendations to the force during and at the end of our investigations, which considered the Dorset Police response to a missing person report about Gaia, and complaints about how the force dealt with an earlier allegation of rape.

After the end of our investigations in 2019 our reports and conclusions were shared with the Coroner, Gaia’s family and Dorset Police, and the evidence we gathered has helped inform the eleven-week inquest at Bournemouth Town Hall. Now that the inquest into Gaia’s death has ended we are able to issue our findings.

The inquest jury has today (Friday) returned a narrative conclusion and in relation to Dorset Police recorded a number of failings admitted by the force. The inquest also concluded the admitted failings by Dorset Police did not cause or contribute to Gaia’s death.

Our investigation found the police search should have been better organised and co-ordinated - particularly in the first 24 hours - and that Gaia’s disappearance should have been given a higher initial risk assessment.

In relation to the missing person investigation, the IOPC found one police officer, an acting sergeant at the time, had a case to answer for misconduct over allegations that they: failed to inform their supervisor that Gaia was missing; failed to task the night shift officers with carrying out any enquiries; and failed to update the police log. The officer received a final written warning at a misconduct meeting held by Dorset Police and has since left the force.

For 14 other police officers and staff we highlighted performance issues or learning opportunities based on their involvement, for instance around the importance of using Police Search Advisers (PolSAs) in high-risk cases, liaison with other agencies, and the handling of the arrests after Gaia’s disappearance.

Regional Director David Ford said: “My thoughts continue to be with Gaia’s family and friends, and I hope the information from our investigations has helped provide them with some of the answers they have sought.

“Our investigators obtained accounts from more than 100 witnesses and reviewed a substantial amount of evidence which showed the scale of the search for Gaia. We also obtained expert advice from the Police National Search Centre (PNSC).

“While our investigation found several aspects of the search should have been better, particularly in the first 24 hours, we did not identify any evidence to suggest that a more concentrated approach would have resulted in Gaia being found alive.

“Dorset Police have advised that they have adopted our recommendations and findings in full and have made significant changes to their policy and procedures on missing person investigations, including implementing joint training on searches with other emergency services and volunteer rescue organisations.

“While we appreciate police resources are limited, we also know from many missing persons cases we have reviewed that it is really important that forces have strong local policies on escalation and missing person reviews by supervisory staff.

“The most successful missing person investigations rely on good communication between police officers and staff, as well as accurate records of all available information, decisions and rationale. These factors were critical early on in the search for Gaia.

“While we found police shortcomings over the initial period, it should be acknowledged that a large number of people, including police officers and staff along with others from the emergency and rescue services, devoted huge time and effort to finding Gaia and they are among the many who have been affected by her sad death.”

During our investigation, the PNSC expert advised that:

• The initial risk assessment of medium was “flawed” and “questionable” in light of Gaia’s known mental health issues, her severe epilepsy, her recent Facebook messages, her mental and emotional state at the time of her disappearance, and the weather conditions. Gaia was later upgraded to a high-risk missing person in the early hours of 8 November 2017.
• Dorset Police Missing Persons Policy contained a number of inconsistencies and contradictions, and unclear and potentially confusing language.
• There was little evidence of coordinated police activity early on, and little evidence that local and national guidance was considered initially. As a result, the search effort during the first 24 hours was “neither timely, nor appropriately coordinated”, and initial search efforts were “at best speculative”, with a lack of clearly documented strategies, and no clear record of what had been done, with what resources, when, where, how and why.
• After the first 24 hours, the search was more systematic, intelligence driven, and appropriately recorded.

In November 2018, while the investigation was still under way, we recommended to Dorset Police that they:

• review their missing person policy and procedure immediately and engage with appropriate subject matter experts;
• review their Missing Person Risk Assessment training to ensure consistency and quality of decision-making;
• formulate Memorandums of Understanding between relevant partner agencies and stakeholders such as Dorset Search and Rescue (DorSAR) and HM Coastguard; and
• review their training, policy and procedures in relation to the missing person briefing process, record keeping, deployment of Lost Person Search Managers and early engagement of PolSAs.

At the end of our investigation, further recommendations to the force included that they should:

• amend their missing person policy to include a category of people who are missing due to illness or injury;
• amend their missing person policy to include guidance on asking members of the public to review home CCTV footage in circumstances where it may be relevant to police enquiries;
• remind all officers and staff that Niche (a police record keeping system) must be used for missing person enquiries, and this should be emphasised in future training; and
• produce a policy on the use of civilian volunteers in searches.

The second IOPC investigation looked into complaints from Gaia’s family about how Dorset Police dealt with an earlier allegation of rape, made in December 2015. We found performance issues for four officers but found no case to answer for misconduct for any police officers or staff members.

We found that, following Dorset Police’s decision to finalise the rape investigation as ‘no further action’, Gaia’s family should have been advised of the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR). The closing code used to finalise the investigation on police systems did not tally with search terms used by the Victims’ Bureau to identify cases suitable for VRR. Consequently, the Bureau did not write to the family to inform them of their right to request a review of the decision to take no further action in respect of the rape report. We recommended that the force ensures its officers know the search terms used by the Bureau (and adopts the same) in order that suitable VRR cases can be identified.

Our investigation into Dorset Police’s response to the missing person report began in February 2018 and our investigation into complaints made about the rape allegation began in May 2018. Both investigations concluded in October 2019.

In their search for Gaia, Dorset Police carried out physical searches, media appeals, hospital checks, house-to-house enquiries, vehicle stop checks, enquiries with people known to Gaia and people she might have encountered after going missing, online research, financial checks, premises searches, a CCTV trawl and analysis of mobile phone data.

At the time Gaia was reported missing, Dorset Police had 63 live missing person cases, 11 of which were reported on the same day as Gaia’s disappearance. Of this 11, four were assessed as high risk, and five as medium risk. Dorset Police received a further 18 missing person reports between 6.15pm on 7 November 2017 and midnight on 9 November 2017. Eight of those were assessed as high risk, and three as medium risk. In the ten days that followed, Dorset Police received a further 137 missing person reports. Of these, 41 were assessed as high risk and 61 as medium risk.

Dorset Police, DorSAR, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, and HM Coastguard covered 2.5 sq kilometres (km²) of ground on foot during the search for Gaia, and National Police Air Service (NPAS) and drone searches covered a further 40 km² of open ground. HM Coastguard searched 15km of coastline, and specialist dive teams searched ten bodies of water. The search also covered 4.5km of railway lines, and 25km of tracks and footpaths. It was estimated that more than 1,000 individual officer hours were spent searching for Gaia.