Response to concern for welfare report - South Wales Police, December 2017

A woman called South Wales Police at 1.28am on 7 December 2017 to report that a man living in shared bail accommodation had not been seen for several hours, was not answering his door or phone, and had previously been feeling low following a family bereavement. She stated that she was not at the address, but other service users had reported their concerns to her.

A decision was made not to dispatch officers to the man’s home, as there was no clear indication that the man was at risk of harm.

At 1.46am, the woman called back to report that other service users believed the man had harmed himself. It was subsequently established that they had no objective basis for this belief.

The woman was advised that the police did not have a power of entry in these circumstances, but that they would attend in order to provide support to a member of staff while entry was gained.

At 3.01am, officers arrived and a member of staff gained entry to the man’s room. The man was found dead inside.

Our investigators obtained police logs, call recordings, and a statement from the woman who made the call to South Wales Police.

We were of the opinion that the police could not have done more in the circumstances and concluded there was no indication that any police officer may have committed a criminal offence, or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.