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.