Met Police to stop attending mental health calls
Crime / Mon 29th May 2023 at 07:47am
THE Met Police will stop attending emergency calls related to mental health incidents from September in a bid to free up officer resources reports the BBC.
The London force will only attend 999 calls linked to mental health where there is an “immediate threat to life”.
Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley wrote to health and social care services last week, the Guardian reported.
But the chief executive of mental health charity Mind has expressed “major concerns” over the plan.
Click below for more details.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65741824
Disgrace of a police force
2023-05-29 11:24:23
Embarrassing from Harlow police force! They don’t give a damn about people with mental health! Embarrassing and I’m disgusted by our police force! All they are bothered about is sitting in there cars waiting for there McDonald’s!
Anon
2023-05-29 13:44:40
The Police are here for Crime and protection of the public, Someone suffering from a mental health episode is not a crime unless other people are in danger…they can also take quite a lot of time to deescalate. Thus taking up time and red out es if an actual crime were to be taking place The Police are not people’s therapists. I actually agree with you somewhat that it’s a shame that the police have to stop attending these calls. But people need understand how much time and resources they actually take up for the police. By not going to these calls they can better investigate things such as thefts and anti social behavior which has dramatically been on the rise in Harlow and the surrounding Essex area in the recent years
AB
2023-05-29 13:58:03
Police officers are not qualified to manage mental health patients, for decades police have been covering the cracks in the mental health system. Local multi-sgency agreements made between mental health services and police have continually been broken by mental health agencies, it's time they did their job and stoppeddoaking up valuable police time.
Cllr James Griggs
2023-05-29 16:39:48
This a story about the Metropolitan Police, not Essex Police. Harlow police continue to attend as many calls as possible for Mental Health issues despite lack of proper resources to do so. The truth is, the NHS should be dealing with these issues but Mental Health services, along with much more in the NHS, have been woefully neglected for years by this uncaring Government.
Casey
2023-05-29 17:09:57
It is very dissapointing to see this happen to people who are at their most vunerable. Is their an organised effort to offer an alternative support?
David Forman
2023-05-30 01:26:00
This contradicts the College of Policing's Authorised Professional Practice which says: "understand why suicide prevention is an important part of the role of a police officer or member of police staff." See link at https://www.college.police.uk/app/mental-health/suicide-and-bereavement-response
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