Police officer sacked over bungled 999 calls

Met officer failed to provide a response to calls about domestic abuse, rape, a suicide threat and potential armed break-ins A Metropolitan police officer working in an emergency call centre bungled pleas for help from people reporting rape, domestic abuse and gun crime. The officer has been sacked after an investigation, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said, adding that he had left some callers in “potentially dangerous situations”. The officer, aged 58, was found to have altered the last digit of the phone number provided by callers to the 999 emergency number on seven occasions. The IPCC said the officer, based at the emergency call handling centre in Bow, east London, bungled 141 calls out of 3,000 he handled between 1 May and 26 July 2009. An investigation found that his handling of 19 calls amounted to gross misconduct, and that the officer had failed “to provide a police response to domestic abuse and assaults, rape, a suicide threat, potential armed break-ins and a road traffic collision”. The officer’s misconduct came to light by chance. In a statement the IPCC said: “The investigation began in August 2009 after issues relating to the PC’s performance first came to light when a woman dialled 999 to report a domestic assault on 26 July. “On experiencing difficulties with the police officer through several attempts to get across the correct spelling of her surname, she ended the call in frustration. The officer involved closed the call log and failed to provide a police response. “The woman caller later brought her experience to the attention of a family friend who happened to be a call handler working at Bow command centre. A supervisor was informed, the call identified and reviewed and the police officer removed from answering 999 calls pending a detailed analysis of his previous performance.” The IPCC commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, said: “When the public call 999 for help from the police, they should receive an immediate, professional and sympathetic response. This officer not only did not provide that response, in some cases he deliberately obstructed their attempts to get help, and left some callers in continued danger. It is a matter of luck – and the persistence of those seeking help – that his actions do not appear to have resulted in serious harm to a member of the public. “It beggars belief that a police officer whose job was to help people in distress should have behaved in such an appalling and callous way. He has rightly been dismissed. It is, however, encouraging that other officers responded appropriately to the callers who received such a poor service.” A Met team has attempted to trace the 19 callers to whom the dismissed officer failed to provide a police response. Nine called back or went to a police station, six were provided with help once located, and four did not respond when contacted. Police Emergency services Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk

Posted by on October 25, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.