Norfolk Police Criticised After Family Seeking Welfare Check for Son Were Told to Call a Locksmith

A police watchdog has issued a sharp rebuke to Norfolk Police after call handlers advised a worried family to contact a locksmith rather than sending officers to check on a man experiencing a mental health crisis. The man, 30-year-old Hobie Harrison, was found dead in his Norwich flat the following day.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) concluded that the force's 101 call handlers should have referred the Harrison family to mental health services when they raised concerns on 6 August 2025. Instead, according to the watchdog, staff suggested the family consider hiring a locksmith to gain entry to their son's home.

Hobie's parents, Mark and Roberta Harrison, had contacted Norfolk Police to request a welfare check after their son failed to respond to them — a highly unusual occurrence, they said, given that he normally got in touch several times a day. The couple had adopted Hobie as a child and described him as funny and mischievous, a man who loved music and enjoyed gardening.

The family's anxiety was heightened by the fact that Hobie had schizophrenia and developmental trauma, and was under the care of the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust Community Mental Health Team. His parents said he also had a history of drug use. When they called police, they made sure to tell call handlers that their son had a history of self-harm and had previously threatened suicide.

After the call was escalated to a supervisor, the staff member informed the family that the situation did not meet the threshold for a police response. The suggestion that they contact a locksmith left the couple uncertain about how to proceed. Roberta Harrison later said: "We didn't know how to make a decision at that point or what to do quite frankly."

The following day, the family made a second request for a welfare check. On that occasion, officers attended the property and discovered Hobie's body inside his flat. Mark Harrison said the family would never know whether their son was still alive when they first called, or whether earlier intervention could have saved him. "He might already have been dead, but we'll never know," he said.

In October 2025, the Harrisons lodged a formal complaint with Norfolk Police about how their initial call had been handled. The IOPC's subsequent report criticised the force's response to that complaint, after Norfolk Police told the parents that officers should not have attended either call — including the second one that resulted in the discovery of Hobie's body. The watchdog described that reply as "unnecessary and insensitive."

The case has thrust Norfolk Police's use of the Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) policy into the spotlight. Under the approach, which the force said it had been following, officer attendance at welfare calls is limited to cases involving "immediate risk to life." Norfolk Police maintained that its call handlers had acted in line with the policy.

The IOPC disagreed with how that policy was applied in this instance. It said call handlers should have asked more probing questions to properly assess the level of risk Hobie faced, and that the family should have received a clearer explanation of why officers were not being dispatched under the RCRP guidelines. The watchdog also expressed broader concern that Norfolk Police may not fully understand the risks associated with the policy.

David Ford, the IOPC's director of oversight and casework, said the watchdog had raised its concerns with the force about its interpretation of RCRP and its monitoring of the initiative. As a result of those concerns, he said, the force has committed to undertaking a review to examine whether there are any organisational learnings to be drawn from the case.

Norfolk Police said it was reviewing the IOPC's findings but declined to comment further because an inquest into Hobie's death has yet to take place. That hearing is due to be held in November. The force has faced previous scrutiny over its handling of mental health-related calls, with earlier coverage noting that police "must improve" call handling following deaths, and reporting on a senior officer defending the new mental health approach.

For the Harrison family, the events have left lasting questions. The couple said they were left unsure where to turn after being told their concerns for their son did not meet the threshold for a police response. They described Hobie as being in "good spirits" the last time they saw him before his death.

The case raises wider questions about how police forces across England and Wales balance limited resources against their duty of care to vulnerable people. Under RCRP, responsibility for many mental health welfare calls is shifted to health and social care services, with police attendance reserved for incidents involving an immediate threat to life. Critics argue that this can leave families without a clear pathway to help when a loved one is in distress but does not meet that threshold.

For families in situations similar to the Harrisons', the IOPC's findings underscore the importance of call handlers asking detailed questions to establish risk and of giving clear explanations when police are unable to attend. The watchdog's concerns about monitoring and interpretation of the policy at Norfolk Police suggest the review it has prompted will be watched closely by mental health advocates and other forces operating under the same framework.

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