Calculating risk

Inevitably, following an incident of unprecedented scale and severity, there are going to be lessons learned. The West Cumbria shootings on 2 June 2010 is no exception, which saw Derrick Bird shoot 12 people dead, and himself.

One of the main recommendations following a 4-week inquest referred to communication between the police and ambulance service. There was clearly a level of confusion and a lack of communication at strategic level. Ambulance chiefs were unable to get through to their police counterparts to find out if the scenes were safe to enter and whether police escorts were available. Worryingly, Cumbria Constabulary knew nothing of the health and safety protocol regarding ambulance staff. The police airway system almost collapsed and the police and ambulance service used different wavelengths on their radios, so they had problems communicating. There does, as a result, need to be greater co-operation between police and ambulance staff during an incident of this severity.