Welfare concerns reported for missing man who ingested toxic substance – Devon and Cornwall Police, April 2021

In April 2021, Devon and Cornwall Police were contacted late at night, regarding a man who had told family members that he had ingested antifreeze but wouldn’t tell them his location.
The police were told where he might be but after conducting a risk assessment, officers determined that it was far too unsafe to search the area during the hours of darkness. There were also limited resources to conduct a foot search in any event, and additional resources such as the police drone and helicopter were not available due to the prevailing weather conditions.

The following morning officers conducted a search of the area where the man was thought to be and after a brief search located him in an unconscious condition, with a bottle of antifreeze nearby. He was taken to hospital, where he received treatment for the effects of ingesting antifreeze, and after some days was released from hospital. He continued to receive treatment and was taking medication to deal with the after-effects for some time after leaving hospital.

We obtained evidence in the form of incident logs, recordings of telephone calls, and accounts from numerous officers, and assessed officer conduct against national and local policies and procedures.

Our investigation concluded in January 2022.

During the investigation, there was no indication that any police officer had behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or had committed a criminal offence.

We carefully considered whether there were any 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, the investigation has not identified any learning.