Response to concern for welfare reports - Suffolk Constabulary, December 2017

On 27 December 2017, a member of the public contacted Suffolk Constabulary to report concerns for the welfare of a man. The caller stated they could see the man sitting in the rear garden of an address in Lowestoft, wearing unsuitable clothing for the bad weather conditions.

The police call taker requested an ambulance. However, the ambulance service said they would not be sending a response due to other high demand. Police did not attend.

The next day, another member of the public contacted police to report their concerns for the same man, saying he was face-down in the garden, where he had been since the previous day. Police and paramedics attended and confirmed the man was dead.

Investigators obtained accounts from two call takers involved in handling the call relating to the man on 27 December. The first call taker was dealing with the call and the second call taker was listening and providing advice. The first call taker resigned in December 2017 and the second was served with a notice informing him his conduct was under investigation regarding the allegations that he may not have conducted the appropriate checks and risk assessments, and may not have gathered sufficient information to enable a decision to be reached regarding police and/or ambulance attendance.

Investigators reviewed a body of evidence including the calls to police and ambulance, police records of the calls, and relevant policies and procedures. Suffolk Constabulary’s control room trainer was also consulted regarding his opinion on the handling of the call to police on 27 December.

At the end of the investigation we were of the opinion that a reasonable tribunal, properly directed could, on the balance of probabilities, consider that, although the evidence seems to suggest that the call was not handled perfectly, the actions of the second call taker would not amount to misconduct. No guidance was breached, and the second call taker accepted that things could have been handled better.

After reviewing our report Suffolk Constabulary agreed.