Police chief wants less time spent on mental health calls
POLICE officers will be ordered to spend less time helping people with mental health problems under controversial reforms.
The force each year deals with more than 100,000 mental health incidents, which can involve officers sitting with vulnerable people for hours in hospital A&E departments.
Chief Constable Jo Farrell now wants to see officers freed up to do other police work and people who have mental health problems left with other services.
She is ordering sergeants and inspectors to have the ‘courage’ to ensure their officers do not waste time in hospital waiting rooms once they have safely left the patient, who may have threatened suicide.
Police Scotland has a legal duty to protect life, unlike forces south of the Border, including the Metropolitan Police in London which has said it will no longer respond to mental health callouts.
Under the current system, officers are often reluctant to leave a vulnerable person in a waiting area in case they decide to leave, which could trigger a missing person inquiry.
In her report to the Scottish Police Authority board meeting tomorrow, Ms Farrell said ‘policing must reset the parameters of our role in responding to people living with poor mental health’. She added: ‘I need to give courage to frontline sergeants and inspectors that they are able to say to officers, “We need to come away from that incident now, we have taken that individual to A&E and they are waiting to be seen or we have taken them to see a healthcare professional”.’
Officers attend more than 100,000 mental health incidents per year – the equivalent work of between 500 to 600 full-time officers – but in 87 per cent of these, no crime has taken place.
Last night David Threadgold, chairman of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-andfile officers, said officers routinely had to take people suffering mental health breakdowns and other issues to A&E because an ambulance was not available – and then sit with the person until they are seen by a medic. He said: ‘We have a function – and it’s not dealing with the shortcomings of the NHS.
‘At the moment, officers are terrified that if they
‘Reset the parameters’
leave people in a hospital waiting room after delivering them there safely then they could walk out, leading to a “high risk” missing person case’ – or if they leave them at home before medical help arrives, they may self-harm or take their own lives.’
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay welcomed the Chief Constable’s comments, saying: ‘Police officers should be out fighting crime on Scotland’s streets, not acting as unqualified mental health nurses.
‘They will be grateful to hear the Chief Constable’s frank comments about tackling this growing problem – which successive SNP justice ministers have ignored.’