Recommendation - Hampshire Police, February 2023
This recommendation follows an IOPC review of a local investigation report where Hampshire police received a number of abandoned / silent 999 calls from a telephone number associated with a high-risk domestic violence warning marker. The force did not initially deploy to the call as a Grade 1 and the caller was located a number of hours later with serious injuries following a domestic violence assault.
At the time of the incident Hampshire did not have any clear guidance in place with regard to how their call-handlers should respond to abandoned / silent 999 calls. Following this incident the force issued a circular to call-handlers on this issue (stating that all silent or abandoned calls from a number associated with a high-risk domestic violence warning marker should now initiate a Grade 1 response) and enhanced their training package, however they have not updated their force call-handling or domestic violence policies to incorporate the proposed change in standard operating practice outlined above. The call-handling and domestic violence policies provided to us by the force were both significantly past their review dates and contained insufficient content and detail to allow for the provision of effective guidance of what is expected from staff in relation to these areas.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends that Hampshire police update their call handling and domestic abuse policies to provide suitable instruction to advise call-handling staff with regard to the actions expected of them in the event that an abandoned or silent 999 call is received – particularly when such calls are received from a telephone number, person, or address associated with a domestic abuse warning marker.
This recommendation follows an IOPC review of a local investigation report where Hampshire police received two abandoned / silent 999 calls from a telephone number associated with a high-risk domestic abuse warning marker. The force did not initially deploy as the call wasn’t initially graded as Grade 1 and the caller was located a number of hours later with serious injuries following a domestic abuse assault. At the time of the incident Hampshire did not have any clear guidance in place with regard to how their call-handlers should respond to abandoned / silent 999 calls. Following this incident the force issued a circular to call-handlers on this issue (stating that all silent or abandoned calls from a number associated with a high-risk domestic abuse warning marker should now initiate a Grade 1 response) and enhanced their training package, however they have not updated their force call-handling or domestic abuse policies to incorporate the proposed change in standard operating practice outlined above. The call-handling and domestic abuse policies provided to the IOPC by the force were both significantly past their review dates and contained insufficient content and detail to allow for the provision of effective guidance of what is expected from staff in relation to these areas.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Police accept the recommendation in full.
We have previously shared the updated wording to Contact Management staff:
Contact Management:
Management amended guidance to staff in respect of how silent calls were handled where a High Risk Domestic Abuse marker is present (making it an automatic Grade 1 deployment).
This was communicated and in place before the 2nd September 2022.
“If you receive a silent call / pocket dial and you can attribute the number to a person with a HR DA marker and the phone shows at a location where deployment is possible then it MUST be deployed to as a grade 1.
There may be other information available to you as a call taker that allows you to make a different decision based on the facts presented, in which case record your rationale and send for appropriate deployment. But if there is no other information save for HR DA marker then you MUST send as grade 1.”
This was sent to yourselves in the IOPC in an e-mail on the 2nd September 2022.
We have also reviewed and updated the Force Policies and Procedures (FPP) related to:
FPP – 02400 v10 – Domestic Abuse
FPP – 01400 Contact Management and Control Room.
The relevant sections of each policy are:
FPP – 02400 v10 – Domestic Abuse – sections 3.1 to 3.2.6.1
FPP – 01400 Contact Management and Control Room – sections 1.33 to 1.39.
Contact Management staff are required to have regard to both policies.
This updating of information and policies will form part of the training package around domestic abuse moving forward within Contact Management. Copies of these policies are attached.