Failure in duties – Metropolitan Police Service, July 2019

On 11 July 2019, the Metropolitan Police Service received a call from a member of the public who was concerned about an argument they could hear at a neighbour’s flat. They said a man and woman were arguing, which was a daily occurrence, but they were concerned enough to call the police on this occasion due to the woman’s screaming.

Two police officers attended and spoke to the man and woman separately, both of whom appeared intoxicated. The man told the officer he and the woman were in a relationship and they had a verbal argument. However, the woman told the other officer that the man had strangled her then she began to cry. The police officer informed their colleague of the allegation to which the officer questioned ‘the state’ the woman was in to make the allegation. The officer then asked the woman again whether she had been hurt but the woman said nothing had happened and that she was not in a relationship with the man.

The two officers left the man and woman together advising them to keep the noise down. Later, the man called police claiming the woman had smashed a window although he said he did not need officers to attend. In the early hours of the next day the woman was found with serious injuries having been assaulted by the man.

The man is a serial perpetrator of abuse, as he has a long history of abusing multiple previous girlfriends.

The IOPC investigation examined the appropriateness of officers’ response to the incident. Our investigators reviewed the officer’s body worn footage of the incident and obtained statements from both officers. They also reviewed an assault that occurred two weeks before this incident in which the man assaulted the woman.

We concluded our investigation in January 2020. We recommended that both officers had a case to answer for misconduct as their response to the incident was not appropriate. We also provided positive feedback for the officers involved in the earlier allegation of assault.

The Metropolitan Police Service reviewed our report and agreed with our recommendations. The misconduct found in respect of both officers was dealt with by way of management action, which focused on the officers’ understanding of domestic abuse and their duties in relation to domestic abuse incidents.

It was recommended the officers also attend training courses on domestic abuse and spent time on attachments to a safeguarding unit and/or shadow domestic abuse advocacy workers.