Force in midst of improvement says HMICS

Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland insists Police Scotland call handling is progressing well and focusing on improvement.

A Freedom of Information request by BBC Scotland revealed the force made errors in 71 “notable incidents” since April 2016 while 11 included positive learning events.

Police Scotland began logging notable incidents in April after a 2015 Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary’s in Scotland (HMICS) recommended major changes to improve calling handling.

HMICS also made over fifty unannounced visits and says the force is progressing well with its recommendations.

Notable incidents accounted for just one in every 22,500, or 0.004 per cent, of the 2.2 million calls to 999 and 101 lines.

HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland Derek Penman said incident recording was implemented to identify “individual and organisational learning” and “good practice”.

He said: “In addition to the notable incident processes, Police Scotland has progressed our other recommendations around quality assurance and complaints handling, again focusing on identifying learning and improvement.”

The C3 response model was heavily criticised after the death of John Yuill and Lamara Bell in July 2015.

Police Scotland was called on July 5, 2015 about a Renault Clio that had crashed on the M9 motorway near Stirling. However, John Yuill, 28 and Lamara Bell, 25, were not found in the vehicle until July 8.

Mr Yuill died on impact but Ms Bell suffered severe injuries was recovered severely hydrated. She died later in hospital, which prompted the inspection from HMICS.

A remodel of the C3 response system was planned to take effect in all parts of Scotland by late October 2016.

The Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Douglas Ross said: “People expected Police Scotland to sort out call-handling after the M9 tragedy last year.

“However, these figures show there are still significant problems and more communities are worried about the further centralisation planned.

“This should serve as a reminder to the Scottish government that it can`t centralise these vital centres which need to be properly resourced and expect the same level of service.

“Public trust in the 101 number is low, and revelations like this will only damage that trust further.”

However, Mr Penman said: “It is important for the legitimacy of policing Scotland that there is transparency across the range of important issues and FOI requests and media reporting support this. However, it is equally important for maintaining public confidence in policing that this information is accurate, reported in context and enables communities to have an informed view.”

He added that HMICS made the recommendation to implement notable incident recording to promote an improvement culture and encourage staff to report adverse incidents or near misses, “in what is a high risk area of policing”.

He said: “We would encourage other police forces to consider introducing similar processes.”

Deputy Chief Constable Johnny Gwynne, said: “Public contact with the police through 999 and 101 calls and our response to the issues people report to us – often at times of crisis, emergency and need – is critical to the service we deliver.

“We strive to make that service and our response the best it can be and that is why it’s vitally important we get it right and learn from issues where management intervention is needed. Fostering a culture where staff feel able to highlight areas for improvement is key to that.”

He added: “The process for capturing the information was introduced earlier this year following the assurance review into call-handling and as the result of specific recommendation made my HMICS.

“The system was implemented to ensure the service continuously improves how we work and recognises the importance of providing additional training or implementing changes to processes to make our service better.

“The process is fully supported and well-used by our staff who, around the clock, perform a key role