Recurance · prevention of future deaths reports
Pre-inquest brief
Insufficient police resources to respond to critical calls
The earlier warning
Karen Burns · 12 Aug 2019 · Louise Hunt, Birmingham and Solihull
“I heard evidence at the inquest that this call was graded incorrectly. It should have been graded as a P2 call with a response time within 60minutes. I also heard evidence to confirm that the large number of P1 calls that evening meant that even if the call had been correctly graded it would not have been answered as all available resources were required for the P1 calls (15 minutes response).”
What was promised
Stated action 1 · response to Karen Burns (12 Aug 2019) · stated timescale: none stated
“| will ask Home Office officials to contact West Midlands Police to identify if any remedial or additional measures need to be put in place to ensure calls are handled appropriately”
What recurred
- 4 Sept 2025 · Khalif Mohammed · Louise Hunt · Closely related · confidence 0.90 (high)
The clearest link, quoted from both reports:
Earlier · Karen Burns · 12 Aug 2019
“I heard evidence at the inquest that this call was graded incorrectly. It should have been graded as a P2 call with a response time within 60minutes. I also heard evidence to confirm that the large number of P1 calls that evening meant that even if the call had been correctly graded it would not have been answered as all available resources were required for the P1 calls (15 minutes response).”
Later · Khalif Mohammed · 4 Sept 2025
“West Midlands Police had insufficient resources to allocate police officers to deal with [the deceased]'s case on 06/01/25 which was classed as a priority case with expected allocation of resources within an hour.”
What happened next
No evidence found either way · stated action 1
“the high quality of information made available. The majority of calls will be resolved at either the first point of contact or by a single transfer such that the caller has confidence that the call is being handled in an efficient and professional manner. The means and consistency of me”
National Call Handling · library.college.police.uk/…/call_handling_standards.pdf
No evidence found does not mean the action did not happen.