Recommendations - College of Policing and National Police Chiefs' Council

The 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.  

The IOPC recommends that the College of Policing works with the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to ensure that all call handlers, are clear and transparent in their communication with callers in instances where police will not attend an incident under Right Care Right Person (RCRP). They should provide a clear rationale for non-attendance, ensure the caller understands the next steps, and inform them of any alternative options available. 

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. In some instances, it has not been made clear to the caller why police are not attending and what the caller should do next. 

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 by the call handler and the housing staff were expected to take reasonable steps to locate the female. Over the next three days, the housing staff called the police on multiple occasions to report the female missing with further information disclosed around potential vulnerabilities. The call handlers did not provide correct or clear rationale for why the female was not recorded as missing or provide an alternative solution to their growing concerns. 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 MISPER 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. 

Accepted

The College of Policing has produced guidance within the RCRP Toolkit which covers force control room considerations when handling of RCRP calls. It aims to equip call handlers with the tools to make consistent, risk-based decisions that ensure vulnerable people receive support from the most appropriate agency, while enabling police resources to remain focused on core policing responsibilities. 

This guidance, together with the development of the Missing and RCRP interoperability guidance, will be sent out to forces under a communications plan, highlighting the importance to ensure all call handlers are clear and transparent in their communication with callers in instances where the police will not attend an incident under RCRP. This includes providing a clear explanation for the reason the police will not attend, ensuring the caller understands this and where appropriate to signpost the caller to alternative agencies / options available, in line with the force RCRP plan. 

As part of the update to the RCRP Toolkit, the College and NPCC will review and strengthen the section relating to caller communication to ensure that call handlers are provided with clear guidance on: 

• explaining why police attendance is not appropriate 
• confirming that the caller understands the rationale 
• providing clear information about next steps and 
• signposting callers to appropriate partner agencies and support services 

The guidance and key messaging will also be shared with the national contact management steering group, which covers Contact Management and Operations, to ensure dissemination to relevant force leads, for appropriate action to be taken to embed the guidance. 

We would like to reassure the IOPC that we are continuing to review and update our guidance to ensure that police forces have access to the tools, training and support needed to respond appropriately to the recommendations you have raised.  

This work demonstrates our ongoing commitment to strengthening guidance and supporting forces in the effective delivery of their responsibilities.  

We hope this provides assurance of our continued focus on ensuring operational policies and guidance remain clear, relevant and fit for purpose.