Police interaction with a man prior to his death - Staffordshire Police, July 2019

On 2 July 2019, Staffordshire Police were contacted by the National Crime Agency, who raised concerns about a man from whom they had received several emails, which had raised concerns about his mental health. Control room staff initially closed this incident.

On 3 July, the incident was re-opened by a sergeant from the Harm Reduction Hub, who assessed it as one requiring a response within one hour and requested a police officer deploy to visit the man. No officers deployed on 3 July.

On 4 July, another sergeant reviewed the incident, having been consulted by control room staff. This sergeant decided to regrade it to one usually requiring a response within 24 hours. No officers deployed on 4 July.

On 5 July, police were contacted by one of the man’s friends, who said that the man had threatened to take his own life. Another friend contacted them and said that the man was threatening to set fire to himself in a remote location.

Police officers visited the man’s home on 5 July and attempted to get him to answer the door and to engage with him, but without success.

Police returned to the station but were directed to return to the home and force entry. They did so in the early hours of 6 July. Again, attempts were made to engage with the man and to get him to answer the door. An officer, who tried unsuccessfully to engage him, saw him coming towards the window.

The man then set himself alight using a lighter. Officers tried to force entry at the front door but were unable to do so. Officers raised the alarm and evacuated the buildings in the vicinity. Fire crews and ambulance attended but the man was pronounced dead.

We launched an independent investigation as is usual when a person dies after contact with the police.

We examined body-worn video footage from the two police visits, reviewed documents relating to calls to Staffordshire Police concerning this man and copies of the call recordings.

We took accounts from officers and staff and reviewed the contact from the NCA. We also reviewed copies of policies and procedures relating to how police prioritise incidents and allocate resources.

Our investigation found no indication that any person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence; or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We found there may have been a missed opportunity to have deployed to the man on 3 or 4 July.

We identified areas for organisational learning, and we recommended that Staffordshire Police review its policies, procedure and guidance about grading and dispatch. We suggested that they should consider whether it ensured that service level agreements were met in respect of ongoing work, whilst ensuring that work which has not met the service level agreement is not overlooked