Police map system failure blamed over Dumfries death case
Police spent more than four hours at the wrong address while a vulnerable woman lay dead in her home in Dumfries after a fault with a mapping system led officers to the wrong place, an investigation has found.
The daughter of a 52-yearold woman called police in February 2016 after becoming concerned about her mother’s welfare. However, officers spent four-and-a-half hours at the other house questioning an 84-year-old woman after failing to notice her name was different from the person they were looking for.
The woman, who had a history of self-harming and suicide attempts, was later found dead in the flat when police realised their mistake.
The Police Investigations & Review Commissioner (Pirc), Kate Frame, described ongoing issues with the Gazetteer mapping system as “deeply troubling”.
She added: “Whilst I recognise from the medical evidence obtained in this particular case that it is likely the 52-year-old woman was dead by the time the alarm was raised, it does not diminish the particular failures identified or the additional distress caused to the woman’s family.”
The woman’s daughter initially contacted the Govan area control room (ACR) shortly after 10pm on Friday, 19 February, after becoming concerned for her mother’s welfare.
A full
description and address were passed on to officers but as a result of a known issue between the Gazetteer mapping system and the command and control systems used by Police Scotland, police were sent to the wrong house, waking the 84-yearold at around 10:35pm.
Police eventually found the woman in her home at 2:40am the next morning after forcing entry.
Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr hit out at the “appalling” handling of the case and called for a review of the Gazetteer system, adding: “The report is clear. This isn’t a case of human error or a chance mistake, the system used by the single force was to blame.
“It’s now up to the Scottishgovernmenttoexplain why this system was being used and if there were any plans to replace it.”
A statement from the woman’s family read: “The past 18 months have placed an incredible strain on our family as we have tried to come to terms with the loss of a loving mother.
“We are aware of the Pirc report and are pleased to note that a number of recommendations have been made.
“We hope that going forward Police Scotland will look carefully at these recommendations and that valuable lessons have been learned.”
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