Flooding prompts police changes
Jan 9 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal
NORTHUMBRIA Police has pledged to learn lessons and make improvements after concerns about the force’s role in Morpeth’s devastating floods were raised during an independent review of the catastrophe.
Police chiefs say they are waiting for the findings of two other independent evaluations of the incident before commenting in detail on any specific areas of concern – but have already taken action to improve systems.
A report by flood risk experts JBA Consulting has revealed that some police officers helping to evacuate people from their homes on September 6 were not trained in working in swift water and had lifejackets which were not fit for purpose.
Senior officers told the consultants that the force was not in possession of the Castle Morpeth Flood Action Plan, and was unaware of where residents should be evacuated to during the rescue operation.
Police chiefs also said they did not appreciate the severity of the flooding, certainly in the early stages, and there were claims from local people and the borough council that more police presence was required on the ground during the early evacuation stages.
In addition, a detailed timetable of events throughout the day showed that police agreed to evacuate people from properties in Middle Greens, Morpeth, at 4.45pm – but by 7pm it hadn’t been done and the Gold command centre in Ponteland was not aware it should have been.
The draft report by JBA Consulting – who were commissioned by the borough council to carry out the £33,000 review – says the Northumbria Police involvement in the incident suggests a number of health and safety issues need to be addressed, including officers working in flood water.
“Either officers should be adequately trained and equipped to enter flood water or they put themselves and others at risk of injury or death.”
The report recommends that should any police officers be required to carry out evacuation through flood water, they should be appropriately trained and using personal protective equipment which is fit for purpose.
It also calls for Northumbria Police to play a role in the review of the Flood Action Plan to ensure a cohesive, multi-agency response.
Yesterday Northumbria Police Assistant Chief Constable Greg Vant said the force’s response on September 6 was in line with tried and tested major incident plans, including the Castle Morpeth flood plan.
“Our objective was to get everyone to safety with no loss of life or significant injury, and we achieved this.
“Our officers and staff worked round the clock in partnership with the other emergency services and other agencies and we have been praised nationally for our response. As with any operational response of this nature, we carry out our own evaluation and look to see if there are any lessons to be learned. We have already instigated some improvements as a result.”
