Police contact with a man before he dies - Northamptonshire Police, March 2018

On 8 March 2018, Northamptonshire Police received a report of concern for the welfare of a man. It was reported that the man was believed to be suicidal and had not shown up for work. An officer was tasked with conducting a welfare check at the man’s home, but there was no reply. The man was subsequently classified as a ‘medium-risk’ missing person. During the missing person enquiries, Northamptonshire Police received intelligence that led them to increase the assessment of risk from medium to high. Officers went back to the man’s home. They forced entry and found the man dead. He appeared to have taken his own life.

During the investigation, our investigators took witness statements from police officers and members of the public. They reviewed this evidence alongside audio recordings, incident reports and relevant policies and procedures.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence.

However, our investigation found that a call handler had not completed a thorough review of the man’s record on the computer database, which would have highlighted some warning markers at an earlier stage. We were of the opinion that the performance of the call handler may be considered to be unsatisfactory. We completed our investigation in January 2019.

After reviewing our report, Northamptonshire Police agreed, and advised that the call handler would receive management action.