Police damned after going to wrong f lat as OAP lay dying
A PENSIONER who made a desperate emergency call for an ambulance died alone after police were sent to the wrong door.
Officers were sent to look for Albert Insch at a supported accommodation complex after a garbled 999 call was traced to his mobile phone.
But after being given the wrong flat number for the 72-year-old, the two officers gave up their search and left after only eight minutes.
Mr Insch was found dead in his home in Inverness the following day by his carer.
In a damning report into the incident, the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc), said Police Scotland had ‘failed to make diligent inquiries’ to ensure Mr Insch was safe and well.
The report tells the force to remind officers that inquiries into ‘dropped’ 999 calls from elderly people should not be abandoned before their safety has been ensured.
At the time of the incident, Mr Insch’s daughter Karen, 42, told the Daily Mail: ‘When police told us initially the call could not be traced we were ready to accept that. Then the story changed and we feel there has been misinformation which has made it more difficult to deal with.
‘It’s distressing to think he may have been lying alone for hours waiting for someone who was never coming.’
In a statement issued through Pirc yesterday, Mr Insch’s family thanked the commissioner’s team for their ‘support and professionalism surrounding the circumstances in the death of our father and husband’.
Mr Insch called 999 on October 26, 2016, but neither the BT operator nor staff at Police Scotland’s Area Control Room (ACR) could make out what he had said.
Pirc investigators believe Mr Insch said: ‘Hi, ambulance please, mate.’ Their report states that ACR staff had made an error in recording Mr Insch’s flat number following a previous emergency call and sent two officers to the wrong flat.
On arrival they were told by a neighbour the householder was an elderly lady who was in hospital. A worker at the complex said he took the
‘Hi, ambulance please, mate’
officers to another flat, where someone named Bert lived.
The report states: ‘The officers spent eight minutes before leaving about 2.56pm. When contacted by the ACR around 4.20pm said they had not traced the caller.’
Both officers denied they had been taken to a second flat in the complex.
The report said ACR staff ‘should have ensured inquiries were continued until a satisfactory outcome had been achieved or all lines of inquiry had been exhausted’.
Commissioner Kate Frame said: ‘This is a tragic case. I have recommended Police Scotland ensures that, especially in cases involving elderly people, officers should not leave an incident before they have established if the person is safe and well.’
Chief Superintendent George Macdonald, divisional commander of Police Scotland’s Highland and Islands Division, said: ‘We have not displayed the level of professional curiosity I would expect.
‘I have met Mr Insch’s family and apologised to them.’
There are currently 30 live Pirc investigations into complaints about Police Scotland.