Incident Grading

Incident Grading

Incidents are broken down into a grading system, this system has 4 categories:

Grade 1 - Emergency Response

Grade 2 - Priority Response

Grade 3 - Scheduled Response

Grade 4 - Resolution Without Deployment

What do these grades mean?

Grade 1 - Emergency Response

This is where a call has been made to the emergency services and they believe that the incident is likely to result in either :

• Threat of violence
• Serious damage to a property
• Serious injury to a person
• Danger to life

An example of this could be a road traffic collision:

• Will more than likely involve serious injury to a person
• The road would be blocked and therefore would create a traffic jam

Some more possibilities of a grade 1 incidents could be criminal conduct e.g:

• An offender is creating a disturbance at a scene
• A detained offender presents a threat to arresting officers
• A serious crime is happening

When on call from a grade 1 incident all vehicles responding to the incident will use there blue lights and sirens and have the right to ignore road speed limits and red lights. A grade 1 incident would be responded to within 20 minutes.

Grade 2 - Priority Response

In a grade 2 incident there is a certain degree of important or urgency however emergency response is not required. Some examples of a grade 2 incident could be:

• Somebody involved is vulnerable and upset
• An offender has been detained
• There is concern for a person's health and well being
• There is risk of the loss of a witness or evidence
• There is serious injury or road obstruction in a traffic collision 
• Hate crimes

A grade 2 incident would be responded to within 2 hours.

Grade  3 - Scheduled Response

In a grade 3 incident the emergency services are not required instantly, the time of response could be anything up to 48 hours. An example of a grade 3 incident could be:

• A service orientated incident like the police being required at the hospital.

Grade 4 - Resolution Without Deployment 

In a grade 4 incident the call handler is able to resolve the incident through a number of different ways:

• Written advise
• Phone call
• Answering callers questions
• Recommend a more appropriate service

In a grade 4 incident the response of a police officer is not required however the incident would be recorded and analysed. The incident would more than likely be handed over to another agency e.g:

• Safer community team
• Child protection agency
• Intelligence units
• Traffic control team

When any incident is rang in it is the responsibility of the call handler to asses the situation and decide a=on what grade the incident should be, then after the incident is graded action will be taken.