Police response to domestic abuse incident examined – Cambridgeshire Constabulary, January 2024
A woman called the police to report concerns about her partner’s mental health. She said her partner had pushed her, was breaking things, and refused to leave their home. The call was recorded as a domestic abuse incident and graded as requiring an immediate response.
Police officers went to the woman’s home and spoke with her. They searched the house for her partner and spoke to the woman’s adult children. Her partner was not found. Officers advised the woman to call again if her partner returned and his behaviour continued.
Eleven days later the police received a call from a member of the woman’s family reporting that the woman had been stabbed by her partner. Police officers went to the woman’s home and found the woman with a stab wound to her hand. Her partner was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
We received a death or serious injury referral from the force and decided to independently investigate the actions and decisions of police officers and staff around how the initial domestic abuse incident was handled, including call handling, risk assessments, safeguarding and the police response.
Three officers were served with a notice for allegedly neglecting their duties and responsibilities by not gathering all available information/evidence, not completing a crime report or appropriate risk assessment, and not implementing appropriate safeguarding for the woman’s family. Two of the officers provided a written response, and one was interviewed under the misconduct caution.
Our investigators reviewed police documents, policies, and body worn footage. We concluded there was no indication that a person serving with the police committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner to justify disciplinary proceedings. We did recommend that one of the 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. The force decided all three officers should undergo RPRP.
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 did not identify any organisational learning in this case. The force decided to review the training, knowledge and initial response of front-line officers, and update force policy, with regards to domestic abuse incidents.