Recommendation 1
The IOPC recommends Greater Manchester Police issues a reminder, to all police officers and police staff whose role includes working with communications date as part of missing persons investigations, of what resources are available within GMP to assist with analysing communications data, as well as the investigative opportunities available from communications data, specific to missing persons investigation.
This follows an independent IOPC investigation which found that a high risk GMP missing person investigation obtained communications data in relation to the missing person on the first day of the investigation, however, the analysis of the data was limited to a partial analysis on the second day of the investigation. Included in the communications data, but not analysed until seven days later, was location related data which indicated possible locations of the missing person. Our investigation found that the delay in analysing this data was due to a lack of knowledge about how to analyse this type of data by those working with it, and a delay in obtaining specialist support from other resources who had the training to analyse the data fully. Had this data of been analysed when it became available to GMP on the first day of the investigation, it would have identified a geographical area that the missing person’s phone was had been, which in this case, was the last known location of the missing person’s phone and ultimately the same location the missing person was found seven days after the data became available.
Addressed to: Greater Manchester Police
Linked bodies:
Greater Manchester Police