Police response to a domestic incident - Essex Police, September 2020
Essex Police received a series of abandoned 999 from a woman who was noted as a high-risk victim of domestic abuse. The call handler identified the likely location and officers were dispatched to the caller’s partner’s address in Westcliff-on-Sea.
Following their arrival at the address, the attending officers separated the caller and her partner and asked them questions to establish what had happened. The caller did not make any allegations against her partner and declined the officers’ offers to take her away from the property. The caller’s partner alleged that she had assaulted him, but the officers left the address without making an arrest.
Shortly after the officers left, the woman again called 999 stating that she had been stabbed by her partner. The same officers returned to the scene and arrested her partner. Both parties were treated for injuries which were not life threatening or life changing.
Subsequent checks revealed that the partner was subject to a Domestic Violence Prevention Order which forbade him from having contact with the woman.
Our investigators received statements from five members of control room staff and the two attending officers. We took further statements from three members of control room staff and requested further witness statements from the attending officers, although the officers chose not to provide them. We also obtained and analysed bodyworn video footage from the attending officers, STORM incident logs, radio recordings, and 999 call recordings.
Our investigation concluded in May 2020.
During the investigation, there was no indication any police officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or had committed a criminal offence.
We identified two areas of organisational learning for Essex Police and issued learning recommendations to address our concerns.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police should review the quality and effectiveness of its initial and refresher domestic abuse training for frontline officers with specific reference to:
- the responsibility of officers to take positive action (including arrest of perpetrator)
- robust investigation and the importance of checking police systems
- completing risk assessments, including where the victim is reluctant to engage, and providing safeguarding for the victim
In this case, the attending officers requested no Police National Computer or other checks on the parties involved. Such checks which would have highlighted that the perpetrator was subject to a Domestic Violence Protection Order which prohibited contact with the victim. Positive action in the form of an arrest was not made, and although some attempt was made to ask risk assessment questions and offer safeguarding advice, a full risk assessment was not completed and safeguarding action was insufficient.
These issues suggest a need for further training including the need for robust investigation, undertaking risk assessments, safeguarding and the need for attending officers to take positive action in cases of domestic abuse. Although this recommendation relates specifically to this investigation, it is noted that Essex Police have referred a number of domestic abuse cases to the IOPC. Our investigations have highlighted a number of issues in common with those arising from this case, which may be indicative of a general training need rather than an isolated instance of unsatisfactory performance.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
We accept the recommendation in full. This recommendation has been presented to the Force’s ‘Learning the Lessons’ board chaired by the Deputy Chief Constable. In order to ensure oversight, this entire recommendation has been formally allocated to the Domestic Abuse Strategic Oversight board which is chaired by the Assistant Chief Constable (Force lead for DA). The recommendation will be added to a tracker and progress tracked. The intention will be for Essex Police’s DA training to be reviewed to establish how it can be revised to ensure aspects a-c (as per the recommendation) are included to a level which gives them the importance with which they deserve. Any revised training will then be implemented. The intention of Essex Police will be to report progress back to the IOPC in 4-6mths.
The IOPC recommends that Essex Police consider formalising its process for dealing with abandoned 999 calls, with any new or amended policy or procedure dealing with abandoned 999 calls to include:
a) clear direction about who has responsibility for updating incident headers where an incident is initially categorised as an abandoned 999 call and further information regarding the nature of the call later becomes available
b) instructions about the intelligence and background checks which should completed and who should complete them, particularly when a call is suspected to relate to a domestic abuse or another strand of vulnerability
c) specific guidance about how to respond to calls which are suspected to relate to domestic abuse, to ensure that potential victims are not put at further risk including a review of the informal process to call abandoned callers back three times, as this may heighten the risk to victims of domestic abuse.
During the investigation the IOPC found there was no formal policy or procedure setting out the process for dealing with abandoned calls within the force control room including the checks that should be undertaken, other teams that should be involved when domestic abuse is suspected and roles and responsibilities of the force control room.
Recommendation accepted:
This recommendation is accepted in full. Essex Police will now review whether this guidance can be incorporated into an existing policy (which will then require amendment) or if a new policy will need to be devised. Once this is complete, there will be awareness raised of the policy change – particularly within the Force Control Room. It is our intention to update you with the new/amended policy within 3 months.