Agenda item

The PCC provided a written response to questions submitted by Police and Crime Panel Members

Question 1: from Councillor Moesby

What if any impact do the introduction of the Right Care, Right Person model and the government announcement that all “all crime should be investigated” have on the Police and Crime Plan and the future of service delivery?

The PCC responded by saying that in relation to the Right Care, Right Person model was aimed at making sure the right agency deals with health related calls, instead of the police being the default first responder as is currently the case in most areas. It has been shown to improve outcomes, reduce demand on all services, and make sure the right care was being delivered by the right person. Officers in Derbyshire often attended health related incidents when the Police were not the right organisation to deal with these incidents.

It was noted that call handlers would receive training to use the model to triage incoming calls and decide on an appropriate course of action, including whether to deploy police officers or not.

The triage process was expected to result in officers attending far fewer calls, while identifying those where there is still a need for the police to be deployed, such as where health and social care partners need help, such as with patients who are violent or have assaulted healthcare staff or clinicians.

It was agreed that figures would be provided on how many calls had been diverted to other services.

RESPONSE

FIGURES AS OF DEC 2022 – NOV 2023

N.B.

The Constabulary estimated each job taking 4 hours of officer time. The Constabulary multiplied the number of jobs actioned through MAA by 4 hours, and then subtracted 20% for jobs they may not have attended previously, and then subtracted the number of jobs they actually did attend, as this was clearly not a saving. This gave a conservative estimate of the time saved.

Other partnership organisations include (but not limited to) EMAS (East Midlands Ambulance Service), Social Services, Council, care homes, and the fire service.

Question 2: from Councillor Potter

What actions are the Police are taking to ensure their staff are safe from contamination at incidents, as police officers they tend to be in the hot zone during any fire incident.

The PCC felt that she was unable to answer that question but would liaise with the Chief Constable and provide a response.

Response

It is not standard operational practice for police officers to enter the hot zone of a fire scene, as this is the area directly affected by the fire and is where actual or potential contamination could occur. Access to this area is restricted to the fire service, wearing their appropriate PPE and Breathing Apparatus.

Police officers would be responsible for providing an outer cordon to the incident location and controlling access and keeping the public safe – this would be at a distance advised by the fire service, dependent upon the intensity of the fire and substances involved, therefore reducing their exposure to any carbonaceous material.

The Constabulary have safety management systems in places for any officers who might be deployed to an incident involving smoke/toxins, generally incident scene management begins when responders have reached the scene of operations, which starts with conducting a dynamic risk assessment. This is the continuous process of identifying hazards, assessing risk, taking action to eliminate or reduce risk in the rapidly changing circumstances of an operational incident.

Upon arrival at the scene, the first task of the officer (any rank) is to gather information, evaluate the situation and then apply professional judgement to decide the most appropriate course of action. Hazards must be identified and the risks to officers, the public and the environment considered. The benefits of proceeding with a task must be weighed carefully against the risks. Although there are usually time constraints on decision making in an operational environment, this should not be used as a reason for accepting the unacceptable. If, after implementing all available control measures, the cost of proceeding with a task still outweighs the benefit, then the process is DO NOT PROCEED but consider any other viable alternatives.

Smoke Incidents

For a smoke related incident, the officer would summon assistance for the fire services attendance, they would then position themselves to minimise the risk of smoke inhalation and suffering health effects from smoke i.e., upwind.

Chemical Incidents

In relation to toxins or a chemical related incident advice would be initially sought from the Force Incident Manager (FIM) and Reactive Inspector, to ensure an appropriate response and the appropriate command structure can be put in place.

Training Officers

In relation to officers’ awareness, they have guidance and an e-learning package on Connect for frontline officers and staff who might attend an incident without specialist protective equipment that was produced by the College of Policing.

RESOLVED to note the responses