Recommendation 1
IOPC recommendationThe IOPC recommends that the College of Policing works with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to provide clarity to forces around the use of Right Care Right Person (RCRP) in missing person cases. This should:
- Clarify scope of RCRP in relation to missing persons.
- Ensure that RCRP is not misapplied to missing person deployment decisions.
- Ensure consistent decision-making across concern for welfare and missing incidents.
- Provide further clarification on the locations which are specifically included under the RCRP walk out of healthcare category.
This follows several IOPC investigations and reviews where it has been found that there has been confusion around the application of RCRP and missing persons, especially when mental health is mentioned.
The RCRP toolkit does not specifically mention missing persons in the context of concern for welfare incident, which we think presents a gap given the overlap. We believe further clarity will support forces with the application of RCRP.
The IOPC investigated the circumstances of an incident where a female in supported housing was reported missing and concerns were made around her mental health. RCRP was applied, with the housing staff expected to take reasonable steps to locate the female. Over the next three days, the housing staff called on multiple occasions to report the female missing with further information disclosed around potential vulnerabilities. Despite initial evidence to suggest the female was missing, RCRP was still applied with the call handler explaining she is entitled to a private life.
On the third day, the female was eventually reported as a missing person and then sadly found deceased the following day. It appears that RCRP has been incorrectly applied as supported housing does not fall under RCRP. This has subsequently resulted in delayed responses to locate the female.
In another case, a Death or Serious Injury review where RCRP and missing person policies were applied together. In this instance a key worker reported a service user missing after weeks of contact, expressing concerns around his mental health. Despite evidence that the male was in fact missing, RCRP principles were applied with the rational of “under RCRP this male does not meet the criteria as a missing person and will not be reported missing”.
Therefore, the necessary actions were not undertaken to locate the individual who was later found deceased. The police may not deploy to missing person incidents immediately, however the rationale for non-deployment should not be under RCRP.
Additionally, a force conducted a local investigation into the circumstances of a man who was reported missing by a crisis team who had not been seen in two days and was reported to be suicidal.
The crisis team had already checked his home address but were unable to locate the male. Despite the location of the male not known, RCRP was applied as it was deemed a medical risk only with the ambulance being the most suitable agency to attend. The following day the male was found hanging from a tree and was sadly pronounced deceased.
Accepted
Action taken
The College RCRP team alongside the NPCC Missing Person Portfolio, set up a national working group to develop dedicated guidance to provide further clarity for forces on the interoperability between RCRP policy and Missing Person Policy, to ensure that incidents involving vulnerable people are responded to effectively from the outset within the most appropriate policy area.
The guidance aims to ensure RCRP is not misapplied to missing persons incidents, and create a consistent decision-making framework that supports forces to determine:
- When an incident should be managed under RCRP policy.
- When an incident should be managed as a Missing Person investigation.
- How risks and the incident response should be continually reassessed as circumstances change.
The guidance will also provide additional clarification regarding the scope of the RCRP healthcare walk-out category, including those locations and circumstances that fall within, and outside of, its application.
The guidance will further support forces to ensure that welfare related incidents are managed by the most appropriate agency under RCRP, while ensuring that police-led Missing Person investigations are initiated promptly whenever a person's whereabouts is genuinely unknown, or the risk requires immediate search and safeguarding activity.
This updated advice and guidance will be published as part of the RCRP Toolkit and be available to all forces to support control room and operational decision making.
Further actions proposed
The College will implement the following actions upon the updated guidance being developed to strengthen national consistency:
Dissemination and implementation support
- The College will communicate the updated guidance to all forces and provide a dedicated input within the national RCRP Tactical Delivery Board in addition to the national missing persons network, to support consistent implementation across policing.
- The College will publish the guidance as a dedicated web page within the College of Policing National RCRP Implementation Toolkit.
- The Concern for Welfare guidance within the RCRP Toolkit will be updated to specifically highlight the potential overlap with Missing Persons policy and provide a signpost to the updated interoperability guidance.
- The above actions will be supported by clear communications plan and where necessary practitionerbriefings to promote understanding, consistency and effective implementation of the guidance.