Police response to abandoned phone calls – West Midlands Police, January 2022

At around 5.15am on 29 January 2022, West Midlands Police (WMP) received several abandoned 999 calls from a mobile number, which they subsequently linked to a woman at an address in West Bromwich. During the abandoned calls, contact centre staff heard the woman crying and asking for help.

At 5.31am, two officers were sent to the address in West Bromwich. On arrival, they spoke to the woman and her partner, who was also present. The officers left approximately 11 minutes later.

At around 4.00pm on 29 January 2022, the woman contacted West Midlands Police and reported the partner had hit her in the head with a hammer and she could not see out of one eye. Police attended and found her outside the block of flats; she had a facial injury and went into an epileptic fit in front of officers.

We took witness statements and examined body worn video footage of the officers who initially attended the address. Our investigation also examined force policies on call handling and domestic abuse.

Our investigation concluded in July 2022.

We determined there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

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.

In this case, we identified an area for improvement in staff training around dealing with abandoned calls. WMP confirmed that this observation has been shared with their Prevention & Intervention Team in the Professional Standards Department and engagement with the Standards Manager at Force Contact was made aware at the earliest opportunity. We therefore did not deem it necessary to issue any formal organisational learning.