Police response to a concern for welfare – Essex Police, August 2020
On 19 August 2020, Essex Police attended an address in Grays, Essex following a concern for welfare. On attendance, officers felt that the man was not in need of immediate medical assistance but had concerns for his welfare and so submitted a Southend Essex and Thurrock Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SETSAF) referral on his behalf. On 23 August, the man was found dead within his property and Essex Police attended to progress enquiries.
This matter came to our attention on 4 September 2020 as a conduct referral. A complaint was subsequently received during the course of our investigation.
During the investigation, we obtained and reviewed a volume of evidence. We obtained evidence from several witnesses, we reviewed police body worn video footage and reviewed police radio transmissions. Two attending police officers were served with a gross misconduct regulation notice. We reviewed relevant documents, training records and interviewed the two attending officers. We consulted legislation and local and national policies, procedures and guidance.
Our investigation concluded in June 2021, but we waited until all external proceedings were complete to publish our findings.
We concluded there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. However, we established that in July 2020, Essex Police changed the submission process for SETSAF referrals. Officers are now expected to submit referrals via the Adult Triage Team instead of sharing concerns directly with external agencies. In this case, the officer was unaware of the change in process as he had received no formal training or input from Essex Police.
We advised that the failure to contact the Adult Triage Team and make further enquiries needed to be addressed. We proposed that Essex Police address this with both officers by way of Reflective Practice.
We shared our conclusions with Essex Police who agreed with our conclusions.
We carefully considered whether there were any organisational learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system and to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.
We identified one area of organisational learning and progressed this under Paragraph 28A of the Police Reform Act 2002. We recommended Essex Police should provide officers with suitable training and guidance on how to make appropriate SETSAF referrals, and the process which they are expected to follow when submitting these referrals to relevant agencies.
Essex Police accepted this recommendation and then conducted a review of the current training provision to ascertain what it currently looks like and whether there were any gaps. Essex Police are satisfied that the training currently delivered is fit for purpose and will ensure the training has been delivered to all front line officers across the force. This will be achieved through monitoring by line management and publishing an article on the Essex Police Intranet, reminding all front line officers about the SETSAF process. This will also be publicised in a monthly bulletin which is circulated to all Commands.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police should provide officers with suitable training and guidance on how to make appropriate Southend Essex Thurrock Safeguarding Vulnerable Adult (SETSAF) referrals and the process which they are expected to follow when submitting these referrals to relevant agencies.
This follows an IOPC investigation where Essex Police officers attended an address of a man following notification of a concern for welfare by the Essex Probation Service on 19 August 2020. Two officers attended and spoke with the man, who did not want an ambulance called, and then left the man sitting on the floor and explained they would update his probation worker and complete a referral to the adult safeguarding team. On 23 August 2020, the ambulance service contacted Essex Police to request assistance as they had attended and found the man deceased. The IOPC investigation found that the attending officer did not follow the correct process when submitting a SETSAF referral in respect of a vulnerable adult. It is understood that on 20 July 2020, Essex Police changed the submission process for SETSAF referrals. Officers are now expected to submit referrals via the Adult Triage Team instead of sharing concerns directly with external agencies. In this case, the officer concerned stated that he was unaware of the change in process as he had received no formal training or input from Essex Police.
The Essex Police safeguarding vulnerable adults policy states that the priorities of Essex Police extend but are not limited to, ensuring the welfare of the adult, investigating all reports of neglect and complying with the Southend Essex and Thurrock Safeguarding Vulnerable Adults (SETSAF) guidelines when identifying and raising concerns about vulnerable adults. The SETSAF guidelines stipulate that ”where vulnerable adults are at high risk of immediate serious harm or death, police personnel must immediately consider how to reduce this risk, whilst having regard for the wishes and capacity of the vulnerable adult” with attention being paid to ”what the adult says and does not say, how they look and how they behave.” The guidance states, “officers should be prepared to identify issues that affect the safety, wellbeing and independence of vulnerable adults” and that this would include “drug, alcohol or substance misuse.” Attending officers are expected to attach the SETSAF form on the ATHENA record and to send a task to the Operations Centre Adult Triage Team. A multi-agency approach will be adopted, after initial safeguarding concerns are dealt with by the police, to ensure the adult is adequately protected. When the Operations Centre Adult Triage Team receive the SETSAF, they will then assess the referral and notify the relevant agencies if it meets the criteria and if there is a safeguarding concern. This team will monitor the status of the referral and ensure that appropriate actions have been taken to safeguard the vulnerable adult and ensure all appropriate referrals have been made.
The attending officer sent the SETSAF referral in an e-mail directly to Thurrock Adult Safeguarding. The attending officer did not create an ATHENA record or process the referral via the Operation Centre Adult Triage Team as per the Essex Police safeguarding vulnerable adults policy. The process of submitting the referral was therefore not in line with policy and procedure and had the correct process been followed, the man who died may have been more appropriately safeguarded.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
I accept the recommendation and we are currently liaising with the Superintendent in charge of police training at the Essex Police College in order to ascertain –
a) What the current training provision looks like
b) Whether there are any gaps
c) Whether the training is still fit for purpose
Once the above is better understood, Essex Police will take steps, if considered appropriate, to ensure up to date training is delivered to all front line officers across the force.