Category: Dirge

18 Dirge 1: for when you think you will be well again

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The dispatcher noted on the call log that the patient wanted to die,
but this particular piece of information was not conveyed.
The information which the crew were given was:
Psychiatric/Abnormal behaviour/
Suicide attempt;
trying to slit wrists; Armed with a weapon –
glass.
Therefore
the crew were given adequate information
of the patient’s intent.
She was due to attend the Jobcentre on the fourth
to make her declaration of unemployment
in order to remain eligible for her benefit payment.
However, she contacted the centre that day
to say she was sick.
She subsequently attended on the seventh
where she explained that she had not come in on the fourth
because she was ill.
She was asked to complete a form
to formally declare her sickness.
She completed and returned the form,
then immediately left.
This meant that the Work Coach
was unable to discuss
the details of the statement she had made:
‘I was busy trying to kill myself,
drinking non-stop.’
There is a space on the form
for the date when you started being unwell
(she put the fourth)
and another
for when you think you will be well again
(she put the seventh).
The coach discussed his concerns with his line manager, and
recorded the incident
in accordance with Department procedures.
Policies state
that employees are empowered
to take any reasonable steps,
including contacting the emergency services,
if they feel the customer
faces clear and significant risks to their welfare
or safety. In this case,
based on the information he had,
the Work Coach made a judgement
that there was no immediate risk to the customer’s safety.
She died later that same day.
On the morning of the sixth,
she reported that a man had attempted to rape her in her home.
One of the first-responding officers,
on encountering her outside her address,
noticed blood on her clothing, and,
quite properly,
attempted to persuade her
to allow police to seize the clothing
for forensic examination,
and to dissuade her from immediately returning to her home,
the apparent crime scene.
A third party witness
expressed surprise at the intrusiveness of the questioning,
conducted by a male officer
in a public area;
a less than ideal situation.
The witness added that,
although the officers’ questions were not in any way inappropriate,
and they had explained why they needed to ask them,
she would herself have felt
uncomfortable
answering such questions
in such a way.
The second attending officer sought advice
from the Team Detective Sergeant
regarding how best to proceed with the agitated woman
who informed the officers that she had been
drinking throughout the preceding night. In line with best practice
a female Sexual Offences Investigation Trained (SOIT) officer
was tasked to attend.
Despite difficulties,
officers obtained
sufficient detail
to circulate a description of the suspect,
who was promptly arrested nearby.
(He was later released.)
It was clear that there was some tension
between the desire on the part of the initial attending officers
to achieve best evidence
and the manner and location of the communication
between the woman and those officers,
necessitated by the character of contact
between the parties.
She walked off towards her flat;
an officer followed
trying to prevent her from entering.
Once outside the address he and another officer
tried to explain to her
why the scene needed to be preserved
but she continued to be obstructive.
She continued to demand that she be allowed to enter her flat
and threatened
to kick her own door down. Eventually
she used her keys to enter the address
and closed the door.
Research indicated she was capable
of being volatile and violent
when intoxicated.
Reports for example
indicated she had assaulted police in her home
five months earlier
when they attended there
to check on her welfare.
The Detective Sergeant
decided that
in her present state of mind
she was no longer suitable
for an immediate SOIT officer deployment,
and instead arranged for an officer
to re-attend the address
with a colleague
the following day,
which was the seventh.
On arrival
the front door was closed.
The officer knocked several times
before a female voice from within said ‘Who
is it?’
It’s the police. Can you open the door please?
The voice
replied ‘Everything
is fine. There is
no crime here.’
Can you open the door?
I don’t want to force it open.
We just need to speak to you
that’s all.
The door was opened.
She said
‘I don’t need
you lot. You can
fuck off.’
The officer explained
they were asked to attend
on behalf of the ambulance service
as they had been contacted
by someone threatening
to harm themselves
with a piece of broken glass.
‘Well it’s not me. I don’t need
you lot here. I
never asked you
to come so can
you please fuck
off.’
Have you hurt yourself with some glass?
She replied
‘No.’
What’s your name?
‘You don’t need
to know my
name it’s all
on your systems.’
The officer stated he saw a letter
and a bank card
on the sofa
which confirmed her name.
He said
Have you called for an ambulance?
She replied
‘No. I don’t need
an ambulance and I don’t know
why
you are here.’
Could anybody else
have called an ambulance for you?
Have you phoned a friend or
anybody to say
you were going to hurt yourself
with some glass?
She replied
‘No. Look
I never
called
you lot
please
fuck
off.’
The ambulance crew arrived,
and took over the lead in continuing attempts
to rapport-build,
only to experience
similar difficulties.
It was during this period that the SOIT officer and a colleague arrived
having postponed their initial visit
from the previous day, the sixth.
No officer present briefed the ambulance crew
regarding the alleged sexual assault.
On this occasion too, having been briefed by the first officer
on the woman’s state of mind
and volatility,
and by the ambulance crew
regarding her
nevertheless
evident mental capacity
and lack of immediate welfare concerns,
all parties decided
once again
to leave.
About forty minutes later, she left her home.
She is seen on CCTV entering the station.
The train was not driver-operated.
It was travelling at only 15 miles per hour.
It happened so quickly, commuters
continued reading their papers.
They had no idea
what she was doing.
The proximate cause of death was injuries sustained
when she stepped in front of the train.

[Responses from the Metropolitan Police (17/03/2016), London Ambulance Service (11/03/2016) and the DWP (undated) to the Prevention of Future Deaths report made by Coroner ME Hassell, 20/1/2016; added details from The Guardian, 06/02/2016, Faiza Ahmed: how one woman’s cries for help were missed by every authority]

48 Dirge 2: declare war

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In the years of plenty
it was easier to placate
and complicate
than simplify.
The argument for welfare reform
is not just one of affordability.
In too many cases
welfare has entrenched poverty.
Get a job tomorrow
earning between ten
and thirty thousand a year,
you’ll only take home
thirty pence out of every extra pound
after the first ten thousand.
Twenty pence
will go in income tax
eleven pence
in national insurance
thirty nine
in lost tax credits.
Our poverty trap is deep.
A strange legacy
for a government
that wanted to
make
work
pay.
The fear
of not being able to scramble
back on to the lifeboat
if you fall off
is a huge disincentive
to change your circumstances.
One in seven
working age households
is dependent on benefits
for more than half its income.
More than half
of lone parents
depend on the State
for at least half their income.
The safety net
has become a trap.
It has also created
a glut
of unemployed
unwanted
unmarriageable men.
Men who can find
neither work
nor a wife.
These men were overlooked
during a decade of prosperity
that did nothing to change their lives.
They stayed put.
In the Welsh Valleys
in Liverpool
in Glasgow
in Birmingham
Strathclyde
and Newcastle
they stayed put. While
Eastern Europeans
travelled a thousand miles
to pick up work
on construction sites in London.
Immigration
reduced the opportunities
available to
white
British
men
men
whose poor education
made them less attractive
overlooked by society,
irrelevant to employers,
unwanted by women.
The man
who has no work
or a series of short-term jobs
is a problem.
Without steady work
he will struggle
to acquire
a family.
Without a stable relationship
he is less likely to grow
into a good
family man
less likely
to raise
good
sons.
The government
must start to question
the feminisation
of education
and the workplace.
It is no solution
to say that women
don’t need men
or that men
should become
more female.
Nor is it any good
waiting for growth
to dig them
out of poverty.
These men need a chance
not a benefits system
that undermines them.
One in four mothers
is single,
more than half
live on welfare.
A lot of these women,
who can raise families on benefits
without their help,
describe
the real
fathers of their children
as ‘useless’
or worse.
The State
has helped to create
a class of jobless
serial boyfriends
who prey on single mothers
on benefits.
The men have no role.
The taxpayer has become
the father.
Poverty
and benefits;
if the Government
is going to make inroads
it will have to declare war
on both.

[The Times, 28/05/2010, Editorial: Useless, jobless men – the social blight of our age]