Police criticised for their handling of mental health call outs, but just whose job is it to respond to mental health emergencies?

Yes, police officers have received training on mental health, but it is important to state that they are not mental health practitioners. As much training as they do receive, ultimately they are police officers and not mental health specialists.

Most police forces in the country have reported a vast increase in the number of mental health calls outs.

A question at the London Assembly on the emergency calls related to mental health incidents looked at calls received between 1 May 2022 and 30 April 2023.

Quote: “The Commissioner (police) has previously referred to the 28/29 April 2023 of which 9,292 mental health related calls were received, with only 30% of these calls being crime related.

Although the number does not give direct indication of the number of calls the Met are receiving which should be dealt with by Health Partners.”

Between 1 January 2023 and 30 September 2023, the Met Police received just over 21,000 mental health call outs. An average 1 in 4 calls to the police is mental health related.

Is London and the Uk itself facing a mental health crisis? And if so, just whose job is it to attend these calls outs?

What is important to remember at this stage is that the size of our communities are vastly growing each week, yet the size of our police forces are not only not matching the community growth, but on the contrary, more officers are quitting.

Police officers face increases in demands right across the board from crime, to public order that has placed a huge strain on most police forces especially the Met.

Officers find themselves in positions where they must learn to morph into many different roles according to their call outs. Is it a criminal brandishing a knife, spitting at them, violently assaulting them? Is It a victim of violence, assault, an elderly person robbed in the street? Is it a mental health call out for someone in desperate need? All these are potential situations for officers today.

Society, has placed huge strains on most households and individuals, and these all contribute to the crisis in mental health. People right across the communities are struggling and need help. To access mental health support you can literally wait years before any offer of help comes due to the ever growing waiting list for support.

In March this year, a charity urged ministers to order police to keep attending mental health call outs until there is sufficient funding in place for the NHS to take over. But how long will that take?

Yes, police officers have received training on mental health, but it is important to state that they are not mental health specialists. As much training as they do receive, ultimately they are police officers and not mental health specialists. They should have specialist with them when responding to these calls who can then take charge of the situation and deal with it accordingly.

Instead of putting the emphasis on police officers, it is time the gap is now plugged on our mental health resources and this needs to be done extremely quickly.

We don’t ask mental health specialists to respond to crime related calls, so it is correct that now our mental health facilities are properly funded for them to respond to these urgent call outs.Facilities have been starved of funding for years and years and as a result we have a crisis on our hands and communities desperately struggling for help.

Police officers are facing criticism for their handling of mental health issues, but they are not mental health specialists and have never claimed to be. What is needed is proper funding now for our mental health system with emphasis on that and how they can support the many in our communities. Their need to respond to these call outs with officers is vital and their need to be in our communities working with many individuals who may have committed crime due to mental health is needed.

Time to fund our mental health facilities now-before this crisis becomes unmanageable on our streets.

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