FOI 271568
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 271568
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 9th August 2023. Please find below the response to your request:
I would like to request under the freedom of information act answers to the following;
- What contact have West Mercia Police had from the college of Policing in regard to the REGULATION 28: REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS in relation to the death of Gaia Pope 2022?
- What epilepsy training have officers of West Mercia Police undertaken in the last five years?
- What is West Mercia Police’s policy regarding grading the risk of a missing person who has epilepsy?
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(2) of the Act exempts a public authority from its obligations under Section 1(1) - the duty to confirm if the information being requested is held, if to provide that confirmation alone would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
West Mercia have made basic enquiries and have not been able to identify contact into West Mercia (from the College of Policing) in regard to the REGULATION 28: REPORT TO PREVENT FUTURE DEATHS in relation to the death of Gaia Pope 2022. I cannot, however, rule out that an email went to an individual email account.
West Mercia Police is not able to determine whether this information is held within the appropriate limit of 18 hours as set out in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004. It would require a manual review of the entire organisation’s 4000+ employees email records in order for us to identify the relevant information for your request. To do so will far exceed the appropriate limit and West Mercia Police is therefore not obliged to comply with this request for information.
However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide the information requested for questions 2 & 3 as this was retrieved during our initial research. This should not be taken as a precedent that additional information would be supplied outside of the time/fees legislation for any subsequent requests.
Please see below West Mercia Police’s detailing response to questions 2 & 3 of your information request.
- What epilepsy training have officers of West Mercia Police undertaken in the last five years?
- Every officer must complete mod 2 First aid training each year. They must complete and pass our first aid E learning programme prior to attending their annual refresh training. The blended learning does include how to recognise and deal with seizures. It is also taught at Mod 4 level (first aid at Work). Please note in force Mod 2 First Aid is called FASP First Aid Skills Police and Mod 4 is known as First Aid At Work.
- What is West Mercia Police’s policy regarding grading the risk of a missing person who has epilepsy?
- Risk with any missing person investigation is subjective and dynamic given the circumstances of the episode. Epilepsy would certainly be a factor in determining the risk to that individual. Consideration would be given to the type of epilepsy, frequency of any epileptic episode, any medication, whether the individual has access to medication and the severity of the impact of the epilepsy etc. This would all form part of the overall risk assessment and would determine whether it is low, medium, or high risk with the other compounding factors such as age, infirmity, mental health , substance misuse, weather etc. The risk assessment then determines the level of deployment and response to that individual.
All of this would be determined with the use of the National Decision Model and based on the facts and cognisant of the NPCC Statement of 10 risk principles.
The risk is dynamically reviewed by the Initial Investigating Officer on the receipt of new information and intelligence. Scrutiny to the risk assessment is managed operationally by the Duty Sergeant with the overall ownership with the Duty inspector. If the risk is High, then the Duty Supt and Detective Inspector would be notified from both an organisational management perspective and an investigative perspective. The factors relating to that risk assessment, such as epilepsy would be assessed.