A MAN was found dead after a police controller failed to pass on “accurate and relevant information” to officers sent to investigate reports of a disturbance at a flat.
The handler at the Bilston Glen control room was “dismissive” of concerns raised in a call the evening before the body was found, according to the police watchdog.
The concerns included banging and shouting from an Edinburgh property and a report that a woman had previously been attacked their during an altercation.
The 999 call came from a man, who has not been named, on March 24 this year.
The Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (Pirc) found that while officers were sent out that night, the controller directed them to the wrong location and they found nothing.
They were told there was an incident in the street and a female was being attacked.
The body of a 51-year-old man was found in a flat the following day.
The Pirc report said the controller felt the caller had abused the 999 system to report minor issues in the past, many of which she thought were not police matters.
A post-mortem found the deceased died from a combination of drugs in his system.
Pirc said that, had the controller taken the 999 call more seriously, she could have sent officers to the disturbance in the property, allowing them to establish the wellbeing of the individual later found dead.
It stated: “The Police Scotland reporter was dismissive of the reporter as she knew him to be a repeat user of the 999 system to report, in her opinion trivial matters.
“Had she taken the report more seriously she should have sent the officers to the disturbance in the flat, resulting in clarity being established in relation to the deceased’s wellbeing at that time.”
The incident is the latest scandal to involve the Bilston Glen control room, which was heavily criticised following the deaths of Lamara Bell and John Yuill in July 2015.
The couple lay undiscovered for days after a crash on the M9 near Stirling despite a sighting of their wrecked car being reported to the control room.
A review of call handling was ordered by the Scottish Government in the wake of the tragedy.
In the new report, contact command and control divisional commander Chief Superintendent Roddy Newbigging said: “We accept the findings of the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner and will respond to the recommendations in due course.
“Police Scotland carried out our own internal review following the incident and necessary steps have already been taken to address issues.”
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