Response to concern for welfare call - West Yorkshire Police, July 2017

An employee from a Leeds-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation service contacted West Yorkshire Police (WYP) in July 2017 reporting concern for the welfare of a man known to his organisation. WYP responded to the call and sent officers to the man’s home as a ‘priority’ response. The WYP officers attending the call were unable to make contact with the man and, after conducting local enquiries, decided to force entry to his house, where they found the man’s body. A paramedic subsequently declared the man to be dead and found indications that he had been so for some time before the officers’ arrival.

During the investigation, investigators obtained statements from witnesses, WYP staff and the WYP police officers who attended the scene. Investigators found indications that two members of WYP staff may have behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings in relation to the manner in which the concern for welfare report was managed and the deployment of resources. They were interviewed under the misconduct caution. All WYP staff and officers gave their full co-operation during our investigation. The two members of WYP staff subject to investigation provided a detailed rationale for their decisions.

At the conclusion of the investigation, after reviewing the available evidence, we were of the opinion that:

• One WYP staff member had dealt with the call in an appropriate manner and given the call the correct ‘priority’ grading.
• The other WYP staff member could not reasonably have been expected in the circumstances to secure the deployment of resources to the man’s address within the target times set by WYP.

We were of the opinion that all WYP actions were in line with guidance and that no WYP staff or officers had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings. We also considered that the proactive approach and decision-making of one officer who attended the scene was worthy of particular acknowledgement.

After reviewing our report, WYP agreed with our findings. They advised that they would arrange for the report to be disseminated to relevant members of staff to reinforce the importance of recording on the logs the rationale of any decisions made. We agreed with their proposals.