Complaint about police action following reports of concern - West Yorkshire Police, November 2017

On 15 March 2017, West Yorkshire Police (WYP) received a telephone call to report a domestic incident between a mother and son. Officers attended and both parties denied any issues.

On 18 March, WYP received a telephone call reporting a domestic incident between the same mother and son. Officers visited their home and spoke with both parties. WYP officers arrested the son after the mother alleged he had assaulted her. The mother raised concerns about her son’s mental health. While he was in custody, the man was seen by a healthcare professional (HCP), who deemed he had no mental health issues. The mother refused to co-operate with a prosecution by providing a statement, so WYP released her son.

On 21 March, a man called WYP reporting that the same man was causing a disturbance at a mosque. He also raised concerns about the man’s mental health. Police officers attended the mosque and spoke with the man. They did not identify any mental health issues, nor that he had committed any crime. The officers then took the man back to his home, and later completed a referral to social services.

On 22 March, a GP contacted WYP regarding concerns one of their patients had raised about her son’s mental health. The GP reported that the same man was currently at the mosque. Officers attended and spoke with the man. They did not identify any mental health issues, nor that he had committed any crime. Paramedics also spoke with the man and they did not identify any mental health issues. The man was then allowed to leave the mosque.

On 25 March, the man attended the same mosque and stabbed a member of the congregation. Police subsequently arrested the man.

WYP referred this matter to us in November 2017. The man’s mother made a complaint about WYP’s response to the concerns she had raised about her son, which was referred to us in May 2018. We investigated both at the same time.

During the investigation, our investigators obtained and reviewed police logs and WYP policies and procedures. All WYP officers who had interacted with the man were treated as witnesses and provided witness statements. Investigators reviewed Airwave communications, logs, telephone calls and body-worn video from the four incidents. They also obtained statements from medical professionals and other witnesses involved in the incidents.

Evidence indicated that WYP arranged for the man’s mental health to be assessed while he was in custody, and also facilitated an assessment by two paramedics when they attended the mosque on 22 March. The medical professionals in these two instances did not identify any concerns with the man’s mental health.

We were satisfied that the officers’ decisions not to detain the man under S136 of the Mental Health Act were appropriate when they interacted with him: none of the evidence presented to the officers at the relevant times would have given them reason or justification to detain him. A significant number of WYP officers interacted with the man over the four instances and none of them expressed any concerns for his mental health. WYP took some positive action in terms of initiating safeguarding measures: they completed a DASH (domestic abuse, stalking, harassment and honour-based abuse) risk assessment, and submitted a referral to Social Services, both of which were appropriate in the circumstances.

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, or had committed a criminal offence.

We completed our investigation in January 2019.