Incident Prioritisation and Response

Transcription

1 Incident Prioritisation and Response Standard Operating Procedure Notice: This document has been made available through the Police Service of Scotland Freedom of Information Publication Scheme. It should not be utilised as guidance or instruction by any police officer or employee as it may have been redacted due to legal exemptions Owning Department Version Number Contact, Command and Control 3.00 (Publication Scheme) Date Published 12/07/2017 (Publication Scheme)

2 Compliance Record Equality Impact Assessment: Date Completed / Reviewed: 26/02/13 Information Management Compliant: Yes Health and Safety Compliant: Yes Publication Scheme Compliant: Yes Version Control Table Version History of Amendments Approval Date 1.00 Initial Approved Version 21/03/ Section 2.5 Phrase changed from blues and twos to involving sirens and emergency lights. Section 3.5 Correction made bullet point now 15/05/14 references paragraph 3.4 instead of No change to content. SOP placed on new template in line with current governance process. 12/07/17 (Publication Scheme) 2

3 Contents 1. Purpose 2. Incident Prioritisation and Response 3. Attendance / Response (Publication Scheme) 3

4 1. Purpose 1.1. This document outlines the Police Service of Scotland practices and procedures in relation to its command and control incident prioritisation and response management. 2. Incident Prioritisation and Response 2.1 Key to the effectiveness of the response provided by the Police Service of Scotland is our ability to properly assess and prioritise incidents and ensure high priority incidents are resourced and attended quickly. 2.2 Effective assessment and decision making requires an emphasis on the gathering and use of the relevant information and intelligence by all staff involved in the handling of and response to an incident. 2.3 It is essential that all police staff and police officers continually assess all information available and consider the manner in which they and others are responding to incidents. 2.4 The prioritisation or grading of an incident must be based on an assessment of risk and vulnerability and not on resource availability. An incident should never be downgraded simply because there is not an appropriate resource available to respond. 2.5 Grade 1 and 2 calls are the only incidents that may merit an emergency response, e.g. involving sirens and emergency lights. The initial grading allocated will be based upon an assessment of the information made known at the time of the originating call and information / intelligence reasonably accessible from respective databases. 2.6 If at any time it is reassessed that the need for immediate attendance is no longer present, then the response priority must be adjusted accordingly. These incident grades, including descriptors for their prioritisation, are as follows: Grade 1 - Immediate An ongoing incident where there is an immediate or apparent threat to life or a serious crime in progress Use of vehicle siren and emergency lights is recommended, but at the discretion of the driver. Appropriately authorised drivers of vehicles deploying to a Grade 1 response call may require to make maximum safe progress according to their training, experience, road, weather and other prevailing conditions. This will entail making conscious and justifiable decisions with regard to speed limits and exercising road traffic legislation exemptions. (Publication Scheme) 4

5 Grade 2 - Priority Crime/incident where there is a degree of importance or urgency associated with initial police action Vehicle siren and emergency lights may be used, but at the discretion of the driver. Appropriately authorised drivers of vehicles deploying to a Grade 2 response call may require to make maximum safe progress according to their training, experience, road, weather and other prevailing conditions. This will entail making conscious and justifiable decisions with regard to exceeding speed limits and exercising road traffic exemptions. Grade 3 - Standard Incident not ongoing but police attendance is required and where the outcome could be prejudiced by significant delay Use of vehicle sirens and emergency lights may not be required but again, this will be at the discretion of the driver. Grade 4 - Scheduled Crimes/incidents which will not be prejudiced by a scheduled response, with police attendance at a mutually agreeable time This may involve attendance by Community or Response police officers, depending on local policing practices, and may be at an agreed time e.g. a scheduled diary appointment or simply deferred to a less defined time period when the complainer is available. Grade 5 - Non Attendance Incidents that can be resolved by telephone or by some other means which do not require police attendance For example incident or crime reports taken by telephone, entry in Briefing Registers, advice given by Public Assistance Desk, signposting to other agencies. This grade will also be used for recording and managing standing complaints. Managed Call Appointment System (MCAS) Managed Call Appointment System for Officer to attend at complainer/reporter s home, or attendance at Police Office/Surgery by complainer/reporter. 2.7 These response grades are designed to support the effective management and prioritisation of incidents by staff working within Service Centres, Area Control Rooms (ACR) and Public Assistance Desks (PAD), where appropriate. (Publication Scheme) 5

6 2.8 When allocating response grades, consideration must always be given to local priorities identified at Tasking and Co-ordinating Groups. Consequently, an incident may be re-graded as a result of priorities determined within the Tasking and Co-ordinating regime (e.g. complaint about youths causing annoyance in an area identified as a divisional Hot Spot requiring special attention). An incident may be re-graded should police attendance be required at the request of an external agency or other emergency service. 2.9 All Grade 1-3 incidents will be initially managed within the ACR Should an Operational Area have a Public Assistance Desk facility, then during their normal operating hours (normally hours), the PAD will deal with all Grade 5 and an element of Grade 4 incidents (dependent on the circumstances of deferral). Grade 4 incidents should normally be dealt with by police attendance at a time mutually agreeable to the complainer / reporter and the police Each Command & Control incident code will have a default response grade, as a minimum standard, attached to it. The creator of the incident must review the default response grade in order to ensure that it is appropriate to all of the circumstances surrounding the call. This is particularly important when considering incidents associated with particular aspects of risk and / or vulnerability, for example, incidents relating to Firearms, Domestic Violence, Victim or Caller Vulnerability, Hate Crime, Suspicious Persons etc Should the creator of an incident assess that the circumstances justify a lower grade than the default grade then a lower grade should be applied, however should there be doubt as to which response grade should be attached to the incident, staff should default to the higher grade in all circumstances. Should it be appropriate to downgrade an incident then it should be done so with the knowledge and authorisation of a supervisor who should note their authority on the incident concerned Use of these descriptors will allow all users of the Command and Control system to define and justify responses to incidents with greater consistency, allowing Area Control Room staff to manage incident queues more effectively. This will benefit front line resources and the public by focussing policing activity where it is needed most. 3. Attendance/Response 3.1 Although it is crucial that the attendance policy is strictly adhered to, the issues of attendance and response are inextricably linked. Flexibility must exist to permit discretion to attend incidents, which would not normally merit a police response. (Publication Scheme) 6

7 3.2 An example could be as follows - an eighty seven year old caller residing alone has his/her window cracked by stone throwing; this could potentially be responded to as a grade 5 non-attendance call and dealt with by the PAD. However, owing to the potential vulnerable nature of the victim a police attendance may be appropriate, if so the incident will be graded as a higher priority attendance call. 3.3 This policy allows discretion to fulfil our role relative to Public Reassurance notwithstanding the appropriate investigation of the incident. 3.4 The following are examples of incident types that would require the attendance of the police (Grades 1-3), although the individual circumstances of the call would determine the specific grade of response. The following examples are not prescriptive, the overriding principle must be common sense: Circumstances indicate a threat or potential threat to human life; There has been, or is likely to be, violence or injury; The caller is in actual or potential danger; Incidents of domestic violence; Incidents where the victim is considered vulnerable. Incidents where the motivating factor may be prejudice related to a person s personal characteristics, such as age, gender, disability, race, religion/belief, sexual orientation or transgender identity (i.e. Hate Crime); A crime is ongoing; Housebreakings; The offender/suspect has been detained; The offender/suspect can be identified; Where police attendance is required to secure evidence at the locus; At the scene of any road traffic collision involving injury, road traffic incidents involving hazardous substances or which results in closure or serious obstruction of the roadway; Road traffic incidents where persons involved could be regarded as vulnerable; An incident of a type or in an area identified by the Division or the Force as requiring attendance (standing complaints, hot spots etc); Incident where the police have a statutory obligation to attend. 3.5 There would be no requirement for police attendance where: none of the criteria in paragraph 3.4 applies; the incident refers to a minor crime, details of which can be recorded by telephone by the PAD or Service Centre; (Publication Scheme) 7

8 at Road Traffic Collisions which do not involve personal injury and where the call taker is satisfied that Road Traffic legislation does not require the driver to report the incident to the police as a road traffic incident, or where there is no allegation of an offence being committed and the road can be safely cleared of obstruction by those at locus; there are no further enquiries to be undertaken; the matter can be satisfactorily resolved by telephone; or the matter is outwith the remit of the police (Publication Scheme) 8