Handling of a missing person’s report - West Midlands Police, January 2018

West Midlands Police (WMP) went to a woman’s home on 14 January 2018 after she had called them making allegations against members of her family. The woman was taken to hospital on a voluntary basis so her mental health could be assessed. Later that afternoon, the woman left before the assessment was conducted. Officers found her and detained her under s136 of the Mental Health Act. They returned her to the hospital for assessment.

Later that night, the woman’s mental health assessment was completed and it was determined that she would receive care from the Home Treatment team. The detention under s136 was lifted, but the woman requested some respite care. She was allowed the stay in the hospital overnight, on a voluntary basis.

On 15 January, the woman left the hospital. Hospital staff called the police to report the woman had left and that they still had concerns for her welfare. Two officers went to the hospital, searched the local area and obtained information regarding the woman’s circumstances. Following this, a police sergeant determined that, on the basis of the information that was known at the time, and in line with force policy, the woman should be classified as ‘absent’ not ‘missing’. Police provided guidance to the hospital that the Home Treatment Team should follow up with her. A second police sergeant reviewed the incident log on the subsequent shift. This sergeant agreed the woman was not classified as ‘missing’, and the log was closed.

On 17 January, WMP received a report that a woman had been found dead in a park. She was later identified as the same woman whom police had dealt with on 14 and 15 January.

As part of this investigation, our investigators obtained and reviewed material held by WMP, including incident logs and telephone call recordings.

Further to this, we obtained statements from a number of hospital staff who interacted with police during this incident. We took statements from four police officers: the two officers who went to the hospital on 15 January, and the two police sergeants who determined the woman was not classified as ‘missing'.

We found no evidence that the police caused or contributed to the woman’s death.

Based on the evidence available, we found that the decision to classify the woman as absent was reasonable based on the information available to the police at the time. However, the evidence also showed that policy had not been fully followed; the matter had not been referred to the duty inspector, and the decision and rationale had not been recorded on the log which was closed too early.

We considered that this was a performance matter for the two sergeants involved in the case.

After reviewing our report, the force agreed to address this by undertaking a learning debrief with both sergeants to ensure they fully understood what was required of them as supervisors in relation to cases where persons are reported as missing or absent.

We agreed that their proposed actions were appropriate.