Police Shouldn’t Be Plugging Social Services Shortages

THE Government needs to act to stop the police service plugging the gaps of underfunded mental health services, South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “We always have been and always will be the service of last resort, where we plug the gaps from the NHS, from social services, and it’s just not good enough.

“We’ve been having these conversations for probably the past 10 years and nothing’s ever been done about it. We need legislative change to make sure that we don’t actually have the same level of duty of care, otherwise we’re just going to continue to be in this position. There needs to be a change, where the duty of care is put back onto other public service agencies like the NHS.

“Coupled with, of course, funding for them to deal with it. We are here to maintain peace, law and order, and to deal with criminals. We’re not a second-tier NHS service, which is what we have become, and it’s got to stop.

“Police officers are absolutely exhausted and whenever this comes up it puts an enormous strain on them. When we’re taking people with mental health crises into police custody, it’s just not appropriate.”

Steve said that South Yorkshire Police officers were having to deal with members of the public with mental health crises “all the time”.

He said: “You’re talking pretty much every day. We’re getting calls for service to deal with mental health calls, to go and section and transport people, which is totally inappropriate. If you remove that and allow police officers to deal with what we should be dealing with in terms of other vulnerabilities in society and crime, then the picture would probably change quite dramatically.”

A Government report from 2018 that has just come to light found that up to 4,500 people in mental health crisis were unlawfully held in police custody in England and Wales in a year.

PFEW Chair John Apter commented: “Alongside us, other policing bodies, including the Independent Office for Police Conduct and the National Police Chiefs’ Council, have supported urgent need for action as the police service continues to be used to plug the gaps of other agencies when they already struggling to cope with demand. This is grossly unfair and must stop.

“I would urge the Government to take responsibility, both legislatively and financially, so that real money is put into secure non-police facilities, drug and alcohol services, community health and social care programmes so that the most vulnerable people in society can be helped and protected.”