Police actions and decisions examined after report of two missing children – West Midlands Police, March 2024

In March 2024, two children were reported missing to West Mercia Police. West Mercia Police asked West Midlands Police (WMP) to check the address for the children, later referring the missing persons’ report to them. The children had been identified as possibly being in the company of a man.

The man’s care worker reported him missing late that evening as he had not returned to the home he lived in by his curfew. In the early hours of the next morning, the care worker contacted WMP to say the man had returned to the property. He was aggressive and kicking the door trying to get in.

Two police officers were sent to the home to deal with the report of anti-social behaviour. The officers were told to arrest the man if he was with the two missing children, and to search the home for the missing children if not. They did not find the children and were sent to another incident.

Approximately six hours later, further officers went to the man’s home and found the missing children with the man. One of the children told the officers they had been raped by the man. The officers safeguarded the children and arrested the man.

We received a conduct referral from WMP and decided to independently investigate the actions and decisions of WMP officers regarding the search for the two missing children. We also received a complaint from one of the children’s family about the way the investigation was handled by WMP and the delay in finding the children.

We examined the information available to officers while at the man’s home, the search they made at the property, whether they considered any safeguarding measures, and the decisions that were made about grading the missing persons investigation and other tasks. We also considered if the actions and decisions of officers was in line with legislation, and local and national policies, procedures and guidelines.

We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence, but one officer had behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings.

We found that the two officers initially sent to the home had a case to answer for misconduct with regards to failing to search the property adequately, including within rooms and in the garden and outbuildings.

We recommended that these officers would benefit from the reflective practice review process (RPRP). This process allows officers to learn from and reflect on what could have been done better.

We recommended that officers discuss the extent of their search powers, the importance of an investigative mindset, and to verify what they are told. We also recommended that they shadow the missing persons team to support this discussion.

We also found that an inspector had a case to answer for misconduct for not prioritising resources to conduct further checks to find the missing children, failing to follow protocols and police policy when managing transfers between forces, and deferring the matter to another team to progress. This meant several hours were wasted when the risk was clear.

The consequence of the decision to delay urgent enquiries caused serious harm to the children, putting them at risk with a man with a history of sexual offences. The inspector was a senior officer who was responsible for overseeing and directing high-risk missing person investigations.

We shared our report with the force, who agreed. We decided that disciplinary proceedings should be brought against the inspector.

The inspector retired from the force in January 2025. They would have been required to attend a misconduct meeting had they still been a serving officer.

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.

We recommended that WMP consider creating a mentor system for officers who are new to a management role or for those who have not been in a certain department for a considerable amount of time. This would aid their understanding of the correct processes for that department.