The Independent Office for Police Conduct has issued findings criticizing how Norfolk Police handled calls from a family concerned about their son’s welfare. On August 6, 2025, the parents of 30-year-old Hobie Harrison contacted the force’s 101 line after he failed to respond to them for more than 24 hours, which was highly unusual given his typical communication patterns. When they explained their son had a history of self-harm and suicidal threats, call handlers consulted a supervisor and declined to send officers, instead suggesting the family contact a locksmith to enter his flat.
The following day, after a second call to police, officers attended the property in Norwich and discovered Harrison’s body. The watchdog said call handlers should have posed additional questions to properly assess the risk level and should have referred the family to mental health services rather than dismissing their concerns. The IOPC also criticized the force’s subsequent response to a complaint filed in October 2025, during which Norfolk Police stated officers should not have attended either call, a reply the watchdog deemed “unnecessary and insensitive.”
Norfolk Police’s handling of the case relates to its Right Care, Right Person policy, introduced in 2024, which restricts officer attendance at welfare calls to situations involving immediate threats to life. The force stated it was following this protocol and noted the policy had reduced officer attendance at welfare-related incidents from 11,831 calls in the year prior to its introduction to 9,229 by the second year. However, the watchdog expressed concerns that Norfolk Police may not fully understand the risks associated with the policy.
Harrison had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and developmental trauma and was receiving care from the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust Community Mental Health Team. His parents, who had adopted him as a child, stated they remained uncertain whether their son was alive when they first called police and whether intervention could have made a difference. An inquest into Harrison’s death was scheduled for November. The RCRP policy, first developed by Humberside Police in 2019, has been adopted across England and Wales, though several coroners have raised concerns about implementation gaps in mental health responses.
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