Complaint regarding how police dealt with a man before his death - Thames Valley Police, February 2018

In December 2016 a man was struck by a car on the A412 near Slough, Berkshire.

Prior to this, the man had telephoned Thames Valley Police force control room on five separate occasions within a very short space of time and identified himself as being vulnerable and suffering from mental health issues.

In October 2017 an inquest recorded his cause of death as multiple injuries, and stated that the man had consumed a large quantity of alcohol prior to being struck.

Subsequently, a relative of the man complained about the conduct of the call handlers and, in February 2018, we opened an independent investigation.

During the investigation, our investigators interviewed a call handler and operational duty manager, reviewed recordings of the 999 calls made to the police service, considered force policies, and obtained the professional opinion of a senior delivery manager within the contact management department.

Our investigation found that call handlers had dealt with the man as a nuisance caller and had failed to engage with him appropriately to address his welfare needs.

Based on the evidence available we were of the opinion that one call handler had failed in their duties and responsibilities while handling a call from the man, and that this could be considered misconduct and dealt with by management action.

After reviewing our report Thames Valley Police agreed. However, as the staff member had resigned from the force, no action could be taken against them.