The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) Emergency Procedures Manual 2002 offers advice and guidance based on experience and good practice.

The ACPO guidelines form the basis of the West Midlands Police Major Incident Plan.

Major Incident - ACPO Definition

Any emergency that requires the implementation of special arrangement by one or more of the emergency services, the NHS or the local authority for: -

• The rescue and transport of a large number of casualties
• The involvement either directly or indirectly of large numbers of people
• The handling of a large number of enquiries likely to be generated from the public
• The large scale deployment of the combined resources of the emergency services

The Civil Contingences Act requires an integrated multi agency approach. There are statutory obligations to risk assess threats, to prepare plans, to train our staff and to test the arrangements by exercise.

The review of the Major Incident Plan is presented to assist officers engaged in the initial action and subsequently involved in the overall management of an incident. The Major Incident Plan focuses on the ten functions required to police a major incident and identifies specific roles and responsibilities.

There is clearly a need for the Major Incident Plan to be kept as a living document, which will enable quick and effective alteration based on feedback from incidents, changes in training and lessons learnt from exercises. Operations Contingency Planning will continue to have overall responsibility for the Major Incident Plan. We welcome suggestions to improve the Plan.

Assistant Chief Constable Operations

Casualty Bureau Overview

The Incident Information Centre has three fundamental tasks:-

• To obtain relevant information on the persons involved or potentially involved
• To process that information
• To provide accurate information to relatives and friends, to the Senior Investigating Officer, Senior Identification Manager and Coroner

This will involve:

• Receiving enquiries from the general public and recording missing persons reports
• Formulating a comprehensive list of missing persons
• Recording details of survivors, evacuees, the injured and deceased, including their whereabouts
• Informing enquirers (by the most appropriate method) of the condition and location of these persons
• Collating data to assist in the identification of all persons involved

Where an incident occurs in the West Midlands Police Force area it is very likely that an outside force would perform the incident enquiry and casualty information functions, leaving the West Midlands IIC to deal with Identification issues. Notwithstanding any mutual aid agreements in existence.

As part of this process a telephone number is issued via the media for friends and relatives to ring, to register their concern and lodge details of the person they are worried about. This telephone number will be circulated to the media as soon as the IIC is operational - usually within two hours of the decision to open the IIC. In pre-planned events the opening time of the telephone line will be circulated in advance.

Central Motorway Policing Group (CMPG)

Central Motorway Policing Group manages the Midland Motorway Network - covering the police force areas of West Midlands, West Mercia and Staffordshire Police.

The traffic density is such that, with little or no warning, given a major collision or incident, serious disruption to traffic throughout the entire country could occur. This requires the special mobilisation, organisation and co-ordination of emergency services and other organisations.

The intention is to take control of the situation and restore order as soon as possible. As in all major incidents, the police role is to control, co-ordinate and then investigate. The Fire and Rescue Services will tackle fire and commence rescue, whilst the Ambulance and Medical Services will treat and evacuate casualties.

The Motorway Major Incident Plan is designed solely for those major incidents within the area covered by CMPG, but does relate to the plans held by adjoining forces.

Further Information

For further information on how we manage major incidents, please see the Local Risks - Public Disorder page.