National recommendations and recommendations made to the Metropolitan Police Service and West Yorkshire Police, July 2020

​The IOPC recommends that:

The National Police Air Service (NPAS) develops guidance for emergency services call handlers on NPAS helicopter capabilities, making it clear that NPAS helicopters do not have a rescue capability. This guidance should also:

- state that call handlers must explicitly inform any callers who mention helicopter rescue during an incident to which NPAS is deployed that NPAS aircraft cannot conduct rescues; and
- encourage call handlers/control rooms to contact NPAS in any incident if they are unsure of its capabilities for rescue.

On the night of the Grenfell fire, calls were made to the emergency services from people inside the tower asking to be rescued by NPAS helicopters on-scene. NPAS helicopters are not rescue helicopters and are not equipped to rescue people from fires or rooftops. The investigation found that many call handlers did not directly respond to these requests for helicopter rescue and some responses were unclear.

In any future incident where NPAS is deployed, all emergency services call handlers must be aware of NPAS helicopter capability for rescue and must explicitly inform any callers who mention or request helicopter rescue that it is not possible. This will ensure callers do not rely on NPAS helicopter rescue and are able to make fully informed choices about their actions.

​The IOPC recommends that:

Joint Emergency Service Interoperability Principles (JESIP) issues a ‘Joint Organisational Learning’ (JOL) action note to all emergency services, requiring them to:

- include the NPAS guidance in their training for call handlers; and
- ensure that systems are in place to remind call handlers during specific incidents of NPAS rescue capability and to explicitly inform any callers who mention helicopter rescue of this. For example, reminders could be delivered via electronic system messages or control room supervisors verbal reminders.

JESIP is a programme that seeks to continually improve the way the emergency services work together when responding to multi-agency incidents.

On the night of the Grenfell fire, calls were made to the emergency services from people inside the tower asking to be rescued by NPAS helicopters on-scene. NPAS helicopters are not rescue helicopters and are not equipped to rescue people from fires or rooftops. The investigation found that many call handlers did not directly respond to these requests for helicopter rescue and some responses were unclear.

In any future incident where NPAS is deployed, all emergency services call handlers must be aware of NPAS helicopter capability for rescue and must explicitly inform any callers who mention or request helicopter rescue that it is not possible. This will ensure callers do not rely on NPAS helicopter rescue and are able to make fully informed choices about their actions.

​The IOPC recommends that:

The leads on emergency services multi-agency working at the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC), National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE) monitor services’ compliance with the JOL action note.

On the night of the Grenfell fire, calls were made to the emergency services from people inside the tower asking to be rescued by NPAS helicopters on-scene. NPAS helicopters are not rescue helicopters and are not equipped to rescue people from fires or rooftops. The investigation found that many call handlers did not directly respond to these requests for helicopter rescue and some responses were unclear.

In any future incident where NPAS is deployed, all emergency services call handlers must be aware of NPAS helicopter capability for rescue and must explicitly inform any callers who mention or request helicopter rescue that it is not possible. This will ensure callers do not rely on NPAS helicopter rescue and are able to make fully informed choices about their actions.