Recommendations - Wiltshire Police, April 2022
Organisational learning was identified from a managed investigation into complaints about the way the force handled a murder investigation between 2011-14. The investigation found that during that period the murder inquiry was poorly progressed and supervised, reasonable lines of enquiry were not pursued, and key evidence was not forensically examined.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures that all Gold Groups have clear objectives or terms of reference covering the oversight of investigations, roles and responsibilities, and wider organisational objectives.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Further to the passage of time since the complaint, it is standard practice that the Force Gold for all Cat A murders will consider setting up a Gold group. For other categories of homicide it will be for the Force Gold in conjunction with the SIO to consider the benefit of establishing a Gold group in the given circumstances.
A briefing to reaffirm the requirements for all Chief Officers and Superintendent colleagues within the Force who have oversight of all MCIT investigations has been prepared and given.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police reminds relevant investigation teams that independent reviews of murder investigations should be undertaken in line with national guidance and that any deviation from this is logged as a policy decision. The force may also want to consider the checks they have in place to ensure such reviews happen.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
The Policy regarding Major Crime Reviews was written into the Murder Investigation Manual (MIM). This has recently been superseded by the Major Crime Investigation Manual (MCIM) which was released in November 2021.
The review policy section is standard practice, and the Major Crime Review Officer will provide the resources for reviews in line with the policy. Where required support for reviews can be called upon from neighbouring forces.
In addition to the MCIM guidance, the Brunel Collaboration are developing a case closure policy which will include operational debriefs/reviews.
The review process and use of a PIP 4 is part of the briefing which has been developed and delivered to Gold commanders and Superintendent colleagues.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures relevant force policy and training is clear about when a Gold Group should be set up for an investigation, including for all Category A murders, and when a Gold Group can be stood down (for example, when a case is finalised). This should also be reinforced with relevant staff and documented within the relevant force policy.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Further to the passage of time since the complaint, it is standard practice that the Force Gold for all Cat A murders will consider setting up a Gold group. For other categories of homicide it will be for the Force Gold in conjunction with the SIO to consider the benefit of establishing a Gold group in the given circumstances.
A briefing to reaffirm the requirements for all Chief Officers and Superintendent colleagues within the Force who have oversight of all MCIT investigations has been produced and given.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures relevant force policy and/or guidance sets out the responsibility for Chairs of Gold Groups to maintain a policy log and to submit that policy log for inclusion on HOLMES. This should also be reinforced to relevant staff and documented within the relevant force policy.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Where a Gold group is required it is now routine that the Gold will run a policy log/key decision log detailing the key decisions in any given case.
The requirement has been re-affirmed in a briefing to all Chief Officers and Superintendent colleagues within the Force who have oversight of all investigations undertaken by MCIT. This reaffirmed the requirement to ensure a copy of the policy file is recorded on HOLMES.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures relevant force policy and/or guidance adheres to national guidance for PIP4 accredited officers to be involved in Category A homicide investigations. This requirement should also be reinforced with relevant staff and documented within the relevant force policy.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
This is now standard practice, however, has been reaffirmed in a briefing to all Chief Officers and Superintendent colleagues within the Force who have oversight of all investigations undertaken by MCIT. The role of the PIP 4 has also been set out.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police should ensure that minutes from a Gold Group or any other strategic meeting linking to an investigation are logged on the relevant HOLMES account(s).
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
This is now standard practice but has been reaffirmed in a briefing to all Chief Officers and Superintendent colleagues within the Force who have oversight of all investigations undertaken by MCIT.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures all force policies concerning the resourcing and administration of major incident rooms adhere to the Major Incident Room Standard Administrative Procedures (MIRSAP). They should also reference that a policy decision should be logged in HOLMES when this does not happen. Any changes to current policy should be documented and communicated to relevant officers and staff.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
A revised version of MIRSAP was published in November 2021, a copy of which has been shared across the Brunel Collaboration for SIO's, Office Managers and Case Manager awareness.
This has also been shared in Wiltshire Police through the newly formed SIO forum. Any non-compliance with MIRSAP will be documented as a policy by the appointed SIO.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police reviews how it handles and categorises documents in HOLMES that have not been read by a Document Reader.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
A dedicated Document Reader is not appointed on every homicide investigation. In a non-Cat A homicide this role is undertaken by the Case Manager and the explanation/rationale for this can be provided in a Policy decision.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures SIOs are aware that, when MIRSAP/MIM (Murder Investigation Manual) is not to be complied with, this should follow a policy decision by the SIO that is documented with their rationale and saved centrally.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Response the same as per Recommendation 7.
The IOPC recommends that Wiltshire Police ensures that its guidance and training for SIOs includes the information that should be recorded in HOLMES about reviews of investigations, to include: decisions that a review will take place or not, the reasons for any changes (including cancellation) to previously agreed reviews and decisions about what action to take (including no action) in response to review recommendations. Wiltshire Police should also ensure that the Brunel collaboration has a process in place to regularly review the HOLMES knowledge and skills of SIOs and to take appropriate action where a need for additional training or support is identified.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
The Brunel Collaboration SLT maintain an awareness of training requirements which are discussed at every SLT meeting.
The lead for the collaboration training portfolio is a member of SLT (Detective Inspector level), the Head of Brunel is a member of the National Holmes Working Group, a member of the SLT is an attendee at the Regional Holmes Working Group all of which allow for training needs to be addressed and best practice/guidance to be shared.
The Wiltshire head of MCIT and ACC with responsibility for MCIT in the region, have been briefed on the requirement to document within policy files and HOLMES the requirement to document all key decisions concerning the commissioning of reviews and action taken following recommendations.