Recommendations - South Yorkshire Police, June 2020
An investigation into a complaint, where a mother raised welfare concerns for her son, identified learning in relation to the subsequent police response.
IOPC reference
Recommendations
The IOPC recommends South Yorkshire Police review its management and allocation of priority reports, including consideration of how a priority report is dealt with as soon as possible.
The aim of a priority graded report is to ensure a police officer attends the incident within one hour. Due to the high volume of reports, and the limited number of officers available to respond, the following practices have developed:
•A significant number of priority reports are not meeting the one hour target
•Priority reports are assessed against high, medium or low level of risk to prioritise priority reports
•The person making the report is asked for their availability within the next 48 hours
•Some ‘priority’ incidents remain on the active queue for days, sometimes over a week before it is allocated
•Appointment graded reports can be dealt with faster than priority reports
As a result, dispatchers are required to review the active queue during the course of their shift to consider which priority report should be allocated. From the information provided, the active queue can have as many as 90 incidents awaiting allocation. How the active queue is managed appears to be a personal choice for the dispatchers, some of who start with the oldest report and work their way through the queue. A dispatcher commented this is their method. It does not appear feasible that a report that has been unallocated for several days can still be regarded as a priority when more recent reports should demand greater attention in the first instance. If more focus had been given to recent reports, it is possible the dispatcher would have recognised the necessity to allocate the relevant report.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
In February 2020, a revised South Yorkshire Police (SWP) incident protocol for the handling of calls made to the police was introduced. This dictates how incidents arec dealt with and has been revised on a number of occasions. The last revision was in June 2020, and changed the way that incidents are prioritised. Incidents are now categorised as Emergency, Priority, Priority 8, Scheduled, Diary Appointment and Resourced without Deployment. This means that the introduction of a new Priority 8 was introduced.
The IOPC recommends that South Yorkshire Police review its procedures regarding managing outstanding incidents to ensure its systems are robust and adequately overseen by control room and district supervision.
The majority of reports are allocated and managed by dispatchers, which appears for the most part to be appropriate and accepted by control room staff and district supervision. In relation to the relevant report, a dispatcher commented that he intended to bring the report to the attention of a sergeant but noticed he was very busy and not supported by a second sergeant on the late shift. He therefore decided to wait for nightshift supervision to arrive, by which time he forgot about this report and it was not allocated. The dispatcher has acknowledged they made an error by not informing the sergeant about this report.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
SYP have introduced a Resource Management Sergeant at each of the four districts, and are on duty 24/7. Their role is to manage and allocate staff and endure that planned response times are met. They are reponsible for obtaining a handover, attending briefings and completing a shift handover to the next shift. Their role also includes regular conatct with dispatch to manage resources and incidents effectively.
The IOPC recommends that South Yorkshire Police review the operating procedures of the Smart computer system, along with any training requirements, to enable practitioners to achieve its maximum benefit.
The four members of the control room staff interviewed, supported by their union representatives, made unanimous comments about their mistrust and lack of confidence in the Smart computer system. The union representatives in particular said that a number of issues have been raised with senior managers, such as the AIB not working properly when names and vehicles are added to the AIB, which the system does not always accept as updates. Premature training before the system went live and the quality of the training were also cited as reasons why staff did not have confidence in their ability to operate Smart to its full potential. Information was provided to indicate the Smart system has the capabilities required, however, it would be desirable if the lack of confidence perceived by practitioners of the system could be aligned with the potential of the Smart system.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Refresher training has taken place alongside the revised Incident Protocol Handling. The Additional Information Bar is now utilised and instructions for its use is documented as policy in the Incident Protocol Handling. The use of this is subject to performance related measures and dip sampling by Team Leaders.
The IOPC recommends that South Yorkshire Police confirm additional prompts have been implemented into the Smart computer system.
An automated warning prompt on the relevant report generated a reminder at 7.05pm to indicate the dispatch target time of one hour was unlikely to be met. The team leader endorsed the report with ‘no action required’ at 7.58pm because she was satisfied a dispatcher appeared to be dealing with the report. There were no further entries until 6.22am the following morning when the report was cross-referenced. Additional automated prompts would have ensured the relevant report was brought to the attention of dispatchers for further consideration of allocation and action.
SYP's Business Lead on Contact Management Programme has commented that prompts will be configured at four hours to bring to the attention of dispatchers if no activity has taken place on the incident.
Do you accept the recommendation?
Yes
Accepted action:
Additional prompts are included in the new incident handling protocol. In addition, there is a sergeant at each District responsible for the management of demand and resources.