POLICE Scotland’s call handling is getting better, according to a wide-ranging review, commissioned in the days after the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill.
The report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS), says the 30 recommendations it made in 2015, following the horrific car crash, have all now been met.
However, it adds that more work still needs to be done.
The car in whichYuill and Bell were travelling left the M9 near Bannockburn early on Sunday, July 5, 2015.
Despite a call to police to report a vehicle off the road, officers did not follow it up. The couple lay undiscovered for three days.
Yuill died when the car left the road but Bell was still alive when found. The young mother-of-two died in hospital days later.
The 2015 review criticised weaknesses in the roll-out of a national call-handling system which led to “unacceptably high levels of pressure” on staff.
Call handlers were expected to end calls quickly and to take into consideration resources available when grading the urgency of calls.
Figures obtained by Scottish Labour at the time found more than 53,000 working days at Police Scotland were lost to stress between 2013 and 2015.
HMICS said police needed to “stabilise” what they had before they pushed through any further changes to the system.
Yesterday, the Inspectorate said all recommendations were now closed either due to their “satisfactory completion or because changes within Police Scotland mean they are no longer relevant or best addressed elsewhere in the organisation”.
HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary Gillian Imery said: “It is important to recognise there will always be a level of risk in police call handling.
“Given the volume of calls and the nature of the contact with the police, it is sadly likely that notable incidents will take place.
“What is key is to ensure that these incidents are appropriately investigated and lessons learnt.”
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson welcomed the report and said: “What is essential is that the risks are minimised and the impact of any such events is mitigated.”
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