Case background
Text published by the IOPC.
On 21 March 2021, a woman reported to the police that she had been assaulted. An officer attended and took a statement, but no further action was taken. Approximately three hours later the woman sustained a serious head injury from a second assault, believed to be from the same perpetrator.Accounts were taken from the woman as well as officers involved in the decision making to not take further action after the first assault. We obtained and reviewed body worn video footage and audio recordings. We compared the evidence to the relevant policies and procedures.
Our investigation concluded in March 2022.
There was no evidence to suggest any police officer may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that justified the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.
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.
In this case, we did identify organisational learning.
Recommendation 1
Link to recommendation · Accepted
Addressed to: Cumbria Constabulary
Linked bodies: Cumbria Constabulary
IOPC recommendationThe IOPC recommends that Cumbria Constabulary should clarify the process for when victims and witnesses should be provided with an information leaflet following a statement being taken, and how this should be recorded.
This follows an IOPC investigation where Cumbria Constabulary’s ‘Giving a statement to police’ leaflet was not provided to the victim, and she later stated that she did not know she had provided a statement. The investigation found that practice differed amongst officers, and because a subsequent incident occurred which meant a different officer took over the investigation this meant that in this case the leaflet was never provided.
Response published by the IOPCRecommendation accepted:
The process has been updated and clarified by Cumbria Police.
A new "Giving a statement to police” leaflet has been created and was released in force Sep 2022. This is currently in digital format which can be emailed directly to witnesses but there are plans to produce a printed version.
Internal messaging has been disseminated to all officers advising how and when to use this form.
It should be discussed with the witness when filling in the rear of the MG11 form. All witnesses should be offered a copy. Record of a witness being given a copy should be detailed on rear of MG11.
Check the original case on the IOPC website