Complaints about police response to report of assault - Wiltshire Police, October 2017

On 1 October 2017, Wiltshire Police was deployed to attend an incident following a 999 call reporting a disorderly situation outside a nightclub. A man alleged that, when the responding officers arrived, he informed them that he had been punched inside the club. The man complained that the officers did not appropriately deal with his reporting of a crime and that the person who allegedly assaulted him was not stopped or questioned.

The man was later seriously assaulted. It was suspected that it was by the same person who allegedly had punched him earlier inside the club.

During the investigation, investigators obtained statements from the officers concerned, examined CCTV footage, incident logs and audio recordings, and obtained statements from witnesses. Two officers were subsequently served with misconduct notices for not properly investigating the crime reported by the man and for not safeguarding him.

Evidence indicated that differing accounts were provided to the officers by the man and the manager of the nightclub regarding who had assaulted the man and where. As a result, the officers assessed that they were investigating an altercation between the man and door staff. We found that they completed proportionate enquiries to assess the incident by speaking to the man who claimed to have been assaulted and to the nightclub manager. They also completed a review of the CCTV showing the man leaving the club, which did not show any assault.

Based on the evidence available, we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.