Response to emergency call – Essex Police, April 2019

On 7 April 2019 at 12.44 am a woman made a 999 call to Essex Police to report that she had been assaulted by her son. Due to resourcing issues no units were available to attend until approximately 7.00 am when officers arrived at the scene. The woman was found unresponsive on the floor and at approximately 7.15 am an ambulance was called for the woman who was admitted to hospital in a life-threatening condition. It was later discovered that the woman had taken a drug overdose and she made a full recovery.

IOPC investigators reviewed materials from Essex Police control room including the call handling report, the 999 call and the radio. The call handling staff were also interviewed as witnesses.

We reviewed Body Worn Video (BWV) from the four officers who attended and found that there was an indication that the officers may have breached the standards of professional behaviour in relation to their response to the medical emergency and the domestic abuse. The four officers were interviewed by the IOPC under the misconduct caution and they all provided a full account.

We found no evidence of wilful misconduct. We considered that this could be appropriately be dealt with through the process of Unsatisfactory Performance Procedures (UPP) for two officers and management action for another. We found no case to answer against the fourth officer who has since left the force.

After reviewing our report, the force agreed and stated that two officers would receive level 1 UPP and the third officer would receive management action.