Welfare concern for man - North Yorkshire Police, May 2022

On 5 May 2022, a member of the public telephoned North Yorkshire Police (NYP) and reported that they had seen a man jumping over fences into their back garden and the man appeared to have a head injury.

A neighbour reported seeing a man jumping fences and reported he had become stuck in between fences. The caller reported the man appeared to be distressed and said he seemed unwell or under the influence, or having a mental health episode. Officers attended but did not find anything on a local search of the area.

On 6 May 2022, a mother called police to report her son was missing. He had gone to his room in an agitated state around 7pm the night before. She explained he had mental health issues and was possibly under the influence of cocaine.

At approximately 4pm the same day, officers searched the local area and asked neighbouring properties for information through house-to-house enquiries. Officers found the man's body between the garden and fences of two houses.

We examined the reports made to police by members of the public. We obtained a volume of police witnesses accounts, a statement from the mother and statements from members of the public. 

Two police officers were served with misconduct notices and interviewed about their alleged conduct which may have breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to Duties and responsibilities, Authority Respect and Courtesy and Equality and Diversity.

We concluded that two officers had a case to answer for misconduct. 

The officers attended a misconduct meeting in May 2023. Both officers received a written warning.

We carefully considered whether there were any organisational 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 potential areas for improvement relating to how their body worn video is utilised and whether their existing policy needs to be revised to ensure full understanding and compliance.