Recommendation - Essex Police, August 2025

The IOPC recommends that Essex Police should review their policy in relation to conducting Police National Computer (PNC) checks to clarify whose responsibility it is to ensure they are completed.

This recommendation has arisen as a result of a Death or Serious Injury (DSI) review in which there was an element of confusion regarding which officer was responsible for ensuring PNC checks had been completed. This meant that the PNC checks were not completed and a man within the property, who was 'wanted', was not arrested and was later found dead through non-suspicious circumstances.