Police not responding to a 999 call from a home where four people were found dead comes after it announced plans to stop attending emergency calls related to mental health incidents.
Norfolk Constabulary has referred itself to the police watchdog after it emerged officers were not deployed to the house in Costessey.
READ MORE: Police 'not looking for anyone else' in connection with four deaths at house
The force had already referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) over police contact about a missing person inquiry at the same address last month.
The bodies of Bartlomiaj Kuczynski, 45, his daughters aged 12 and seven, and a 36-year-old woman, also a member of the family, were discovered following a call at 7am on Friday.
However police have revealed that a 999 call was made an hour earlier at 6am by a man at the house but that police officers were not sent.
READ MORE: Father found dead with young daughters 'went missing in run up to Christmas’
It remains unclear what the nature of the 999 call was.
Last June Norfolk police announced plans for a new policy - to come into force by the end of the year - where officers would only attend emergency calls where a crime had been committed or where there is an immediate threat to life.
One in five 999 and 101 calls to police in Norfolk relate to people with mental health issues.
READ MORE: Police did not respond to 999 call made an hour before four found dead
Under the scheme – known as Right Care, Right Person – police would continue to attend call-outs if there is a person at risk of serious harm.
But officers would not attend medical calls where a healthcare professional was more appropriate.
No changes have so far been made to the current system and the scheme has not yet been introduced.
READ MORE: Norfolk mental health ‘alarm’ over police 999 policy change
However the proposed change led to serious concerns about what the change could mean for vulnerable people.
Responding at the time, Zoe Billingham, chairman of the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT), said: “It is absolutely right that people in mental health crises do need to be cared for in a health setting, but it has always been the job of the police to be the first responder.”
The IOPC investigation over the non-deployment is likely to centre on the nature and content of the 999 call and the decisions made in the police control room.
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