Another tragedy... another police call handling blunder

Woman, 52, was found dead after address mix-up

POLICE called out to the home of a vulnerable woman who was later found dead went to the wrong address in the latest of a series of call-handling blunders that lead to tragedy.

The family of a 52-year-old woman raised the alarm over her safety after she failed to answer her phone, telling police that she had a history of depression and had previously attempted suicide.

But an IT problem which police knew about but had not fixed meant officers initially went to the wrong house and woke up an 84-year-old woman.

In another error, officers did not check if they had found the right person – and mistakenly reassured the 52-year-old woman’s family that she was safe.

The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC) found the woman had died of a suspected accidental overdose of prescribed medication, probably before the force was contacted.

But the damning report raised concerns about the police mapping system and ‘failings in the actions of both area control room staff and the attending officers’.

Last night, the dead woman’s family spoke of the ‘incredible strain’ they had faced since her death last year.

And yesterday, Commissioner Kate Frame said it was ‘deeply troubling’ that computing problems had not been resolved before the incident – and ‘disappointing’ that officers had failed to realise the names had not matched up.

The report comes as concern grows over police call-handling failures follow-

‘System used by the force was to blame’

ing several high-profile blunders, including the M9 tragedy in 2015 when a woman was left dying by the roadside for three days.

Last night, Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the latest report revealed a ‘horrendous episode’. He added: ‘This isn’t a case of human error or a chance mistake, the system used by the single force was to blame.’

Mr Kerr said the Scottish Government ‘must take this report seriously and make sure all the recommendations are implemented by Police Scotland’.

Mrs Frame said it was ‘deeply troubling that despite issues having been identified… before the incident, these issues, which in certain circumstances could prove to be critical, were not resolved’.

The report found the 52-year-old’s daughter had phoned the police area control room at Govan, Glasgow, shortly after 10pm on February 19 last year, concerned for her mother’s safety.

The woman was on the police vulnerable person database – but this information was not passed to attending officers.

A full description and address were relayed but, as a result of a ‘known issue’ involving the computer mapping system used by Police Scotland, officers were sent to the wrong house.

They were given the name of the woman in question but no details of her age or physical description. The increasingly worried family of the 52-year-old were told officers had spoken to her and she was safe and well. But she was found dead around 2.40am the following day after officers finally forced entry to the right house.

Subsequently PIRC recommended that Police Scotland take steps to address the IT issue, ensure control room staff pass on ‘all relevant available information’ to frontline officers and clarify responsibilities for updating people who report incidents. Mrs Frame said: ‘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.’

In a statement, the woman’s family said: ‘We hope that Police Scotland will look carefully at these recommendations and that valuable lessons have been learned.’

Police Scotland Assistant Chief Constable Nelson Telfer said: ‘Significant work has been undertaken to improve our Gazetteer system to ensure that address information is presented correctly on our systems.’

David Hamilton, vice-chairman of the Scottish Police Federation representing rank-and-file officers, said: ‘The PIRC is blessed with hindsight and no one can really believe the sending of officers to the wrong address was anything other than a genuine error.’

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We have noted the publication of the PIRC report and the statement by Police Scotland that they took steps last year to address the issues identified within it.’