Do the police do welfare checks?

[Fixerupper77]

Genuine concerns that a relative may have come to harm. No one lives close by - would the police do a welfare check?

Yes, they do.

Yes if they believe it necessary.

They do, but in our area they limit them to a specific set of criteria due to be overwhelmed with requests

Yes if they think it's warranted. Just asking for one doesn't guarantee it but if you can give grounds for it & noones able to check up on the person then they will

I work in a police control room. We get asked to do them most days. Probably about 70% get done

They refused when I asked last year. Paramedics got in somehow and found the person unconscious on the floor. He died two weeks later.

They did when my father had died. His car was outside, his curtains were shut, my relative who lived close by couldn’t get a response by knocking, and he’d missed calling on his grandchild’s birthday the day before. The police broke down the back door.

Saying that, I’m not sure that would count as a welfare check…

Thats pretty much exactly what I'd class as a welfare check.

So sorry it turned out like that

Assuming the person is vulnerable and its out of character and I suppose depending on the length of time with no contact

Yes they do. Sent police car, blue lights to my FIL.

Yes they do.

They don't pay for the door to be repaired though if they have to force entry.

Yes they do

Some forces are so overwhelmed with welfare checks they simply can’t respond to them on top of everything else.

if ambulance can’t get in they call the fire brigade to break the door down instead.

Thank you.

I guess I wasn’t sure because we had pretty good evidence he was in there and unable to respond, as opposed to requesting a check because we hadn’t been able to get him on the phone for a few days.

Don’t waste time on here, call them and ask!

Yes, absolutely. Happened recently for a very unwell bipolar friend of mine.

Did for my parents' neighbour (curtains not opened mid-morning, which was very unusual) but they were driving past at the time and my parents flagged down the car.
They knocked hard, then pushed the door in fairly quickly, and he'd fallen down the stairs the previous night on the way up and broken his leg/hip. The police stayed until the ambulance came, and offered to call their children, but dm thought her calling would probably be less alarming (as he was going to be okay now).
They then helped df get the door secured as best as possible before they left.