Davidson challenges Sturgeon on 999 failings

First Minister hits back, claiming action is being taken to improve service

Two hundred emergency calls to Police Scotland have “gone unheeded” in the last year, Tory leader Ruth Davidson has claimed, as she told how officers had not been deployed to incidents or had been sent to the wrong town.

Ms Davidson said such cases included a suicidal caller being told to “hang up”, while no officers were dispatched to help a couple who rang 999 when their front door was “being kicked in”.

She challenged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon on the issue after a report by the independent Police Investigations and Review Commissioner found a number of failings in the way police dealt with a 999 call from a domestic abuse victim.

Elizabeth Bowe, 50, called for help on September 17 2016 but Police Scotland took almost 90 minutes to respond.

When they did they found her fatally injured in her St Andrews home.

Her brother Gordon Bowe, 52, was jailed for life in July at the High Court in Glasgow after being found guilty of strangling his sister.

Ms Davidson told the SNP leader: “This is not an isolated incident and the question people are asking is this, how many more times will a call for help go unheeded before the situation in our emergency control rooms is sorted out?”

Raising the issue at First Minister’s Questions, she said there were “200 incidents from the last year that we have uncovered” where police had failed to respond appropriately.

She said: “In one case a suicidal man was told to hang up. In another two separate call handlers failed to record a report of a dead body in a house.

“In another, a couple rang 999 to report their front door was being kicked in, they didn’t get any help because firstly the wrong address was written down and secondly police officers weren’t even dispatched.

“That is the reality of what is happening right now,” she added.

Ms Sturgeon expressed her “heartfelt thoughts and sympathies” to the family of Ms Bowe and said that each of the cases cited was “serious and unacceptable”.

But she told MSPs: “I do think it is important also to put the situation into context. Ruth Davidson cites 200 incidents – as I say completely unacceptable – but Police Scotland handle 2.6 million calls every year.”

She added: “I am very clear that one of the incidents of the type Ruth Davidson has cited here today is one too many and lessons must be learned from all of these incidents.

“But I also think we need to recognise the number of calls that are handled and use that as context, and also to recognise the significant improvements that have been made.”

The First Minister said that following the murder of Ms Bowe “the police have rolled out risk and vulnerability training to more than 800 staff, further guidance has been issued to all control room staff in regards to the regrading and closing of incidents, a national quality assurance unit for police call handling has also been established”.

Ms Sturgeon added: “Significant action has been taken to strengthen the call handling processes and to make sure that the whole process is of the quality people deserve.”

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said the Elizabeth Bowe case was “deeply troubling”.

He said: “I think it’s reasonable to ask these questions because Bilston Glen was at the centre of the M9 crash tragedy where two victims were left dying at the side of the motorway for days because of a shortage of experienced call handlers.”

Mr Rennie it was “disturbing” that the crash involving Lamara Bell, 25, and her boyfriend John Yuill, 28, happened more than two years ago and there had still not been a fatal accident inquiry.

He added: “There are still questions about the underlying reasons of what went wrong in St Andrews, we still don’t know what exactly went wrong on the M9.”

Ms Sturgeon said decisions on fatal accident inquiries are taken by the Crown Office, adding “significant improvements have been made”.

“Significant action has been taken to strengthen the call handling processes. NICOLA STURGEON

Top: Ruth Davidson raised several 999 call failings. Above: Gordon Bowe, who killed his sister.