Investigation into police actions following a domestic violence incident – Derbyshire Constabulary, May 2023

Derbyshire Constabulary received an online report from a member of the public saying that a man had assaulted a woman in her home. The incident was un-resourced due to operational commitments. 

Derbyshire Constabulary received another online report a few days later from the same member of the public saying that the man had assaulted the woman again in her home. 

We received a death or serious injury referral from the force and decided to independently investigate the circumstances around the serious injury sustained by the woman. 

We examined what action was taken to investigate the report of assault, what safeguarding measures were considered/implemented by the police, and whether the actions and decisions of officers and staff were made in line with relevant local and national policies, procedures, training and legislation.

Our investigators reviewed documentary evidence, including force policies and incident logs. Witness statements were taken from 16 members of staff, including an expert witness, response sergeants and control room operators.  

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner justifying the bringing of disciplinary proceedings. 

However, six officers received management action, and three officers were dealt with using the reflective practice review process. 

We carefully considered whether there were any learning opportunities arising from the investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system, and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents.  

We recommended that Derbyshire Constabulary provide refresher training to control room staff on inputting updates in incident logs around resourcing, create an escalation policy for un-resourced priority incidents, and provide refresher training on the importance of THRIVE assessments and when to re-THRIVE an incident.

We also recommended that the force should make sure guidance around dispatching officers is incorporated into sergeant training, with sergeants having effective oversight of incidents throughout their shift.

The force should also provide refresher training to control room staff about contacting informants if there are resourcing issues.