The Independent Office for Police Conduct has raised concerns about how Norfolk Police handled calls from a family seeking a welfare check on their son in August 2025. When Hobie Harrison’s parents contacted police after he failed to respond to them for an extended period, call handlers told them to contact a locksmith instead of dispatching officers or referring them to mental health services. The parents made a second call the following day, which resulted in officers attending and discovering Harrison dead in his flat in Norwich.
The IOPC found that call handlers should have asked more detailed questions to properly assess the level of risk and provided clearer explanations to the family about why officers were not being sent under Norfolk Police’s Right Care, Right Person policy. This policy limits police attendance at welfare calls to cases involving immediate risk to life. The watchdog also criticised the force’s response to a subsequent complaint filed by the family, describing the police reply as unnecessary and insensitive after the force stated officers should not have attended either call, including the one that resulted in discovering Harrison’s body.
Norfolk Police stated it had been following proper procedures under the RCRP guidelines and noted the policy had reduced officer attendance at welfare-related incidents from 11,831 to 9,229 calls between years. The force said it is reviewing the IOPC findings and examining potential organisational learnings. Harrison’s parents expressed uncertainty about whether their son was still alive when they first called and whether intervention could have prevented his death. An inquest is scheduled for later this year. The IOPC has raised broader concerns about whether Norfolk Police fully understands the risks associated with the RCRP policy, which has been adopted by multiple forces across England and Wales since its initial development in 2019.
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