Actions following call reporting concern for welfare - Leicestershire Police and Derbyshire Constabulary, July 2017

On 22 July 2017, at around 7pm, Leicestershire Police received a 999 call from a woman who said she was concerned about her friend, as she had not been able to contact her. She said her friend had alcohol addiction issues, had attempted suicide several times before and had previously been sectioned. The call handler emailed a record of the incident to Derbyshire Constabulary, as this was where the friend of the caller lived. He did not record the previous suicide attempts or the fact that the friend had been sectioned previously.

Two Derbyshire Constabulary officers went to the home of the woman’s friend on the same evening, at around 11pm. They did not get an answer from knocking at the door. Another officer attended the following day and found the friend of the caller dead. She appeared to have died due to an overdose of medication.

During the investigation, accounts were obtained from the Leicestershire Police officer and all Derbyshire Constabulary officers who were known to have been involved. We found indications of possible misconduct in respect of the Leicestershire Police call handler and served him with a notice of investigation. He responded to this in writing. We examined a number of documents from both police forces relating to this incident.

Based on the evidence available, the Investigator found no indication that any of the Derbyshire Constabulary officers or staff who dealt with this incident may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

The investigation found that the Leicestershire Police call handler’s actions amounted to unsatisfactory performance.

After reviewing our report, Leicestershire Police agreed that the call handler’s performance would be addressed with his supervisor in a debrief about learning from this case.

We agreed that their proposal was satisfactory.