SOUTH Yorkshire Police are being called out as the first responders to incidences involving mental health issues, and it\u2019s \u2018totally inappropriate\u2019 according to South Yorkshire Police Federation.<\/p>\n
The Federation estimates that these calls can take up to 50% of a police officer\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
A new report suggests police officers across the country are getting dispatched on 999 shouts to people suffering from mental health crises more than ever before and that they are the often the first responders ahead of specialist mental health services.<\/p>\n
The number of calls has risen by 41% over the past five years across England and Wales a freedom of information request undertaken by\u00a0The Guardian<\/em>\u00a0revealed.<\/p>\n South Yorkshire Police Federation Chairman Steve Kent says the problem is so widespread he estimates it takes up half of officers\u2019 workloads.<\/p>\n He says he has \u2018absolute sympathy\u2019 for NHS and ambulance responders who do their very best with the resources available, but it\u2019s inappropriate for officers to be on the very frontline of dealing with mental health-driven incidents.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not giving that person the proper care and attention they need,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat it also does is it puts our officers at a massive risk of it going wrong, as we see so many times, and the IOPC and other organisations like them then jumping all over the police to say we haven\u2019t done this right, we haven\u2019t done that right.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s exposing our officers to risk here, and it\u2019s exposing the actual members of the public to the risk. It is totally inappropriate, and it has to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n Steve says the issue has to be resolved at a national level with increased resourcing. That could potentially be through a specialist fifth emergency service run by the NHS.<\/p>\n \u201cThe problem is massive; I would say it takes up 50% of officers\u2019 time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere has to be a national strategy change on this. I know we\u2019re under a COVID cloud, but in better circumstances, there almost needs to be a fifth emergency service perhaps; a specific arm of the NHS that goes out and deals with it.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, if they go out and someone\u2019s violent they can have the police assistance, but it\u2019s a far better situation if someone is having a mental health crisis and we as police officers, and I\u2019m talking from experience here, go and assist them rather than take the lead.<\/p>\n \u201cThen they\u2019re in an ambulance with us assisting them. On extreme occasions, they can be medicated. When the police turn up on their own, what are we trained to do? We\u2019re trained to deal with violent criminals, and we cannot always be expected to adopt those skills to deal with people who are mentally ill.\u201d<\/p>\n The lack of recognition of the \u2018no-win\u2019 scenario officers are placed in by the IOPC also needs urgent reform, and there are too many examples when officers have been put in difficult situations, Steve added.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are extreme examples when you have people in a mental health crisis, and they are causing serious damage or serious assaults on people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe police response to that is going to be the same as it would be to somebody who was a violent criminal doing the same thing. You\u2019ve got to put the public first, and you\u2019ve got to take control of that person.<\/p>\n \u201cBut very frequently, and this will strike a chord with any officer in South Yorkshire or across the country, we will hear incidents of, \u2018so and so\u2019s having a mental health breakdown in his house. He\u2019s been violent, so ambulance won\u2019t attend until police go\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cSo this person who is having a mental health episode, whose family have called up, the first people coming through that door are police officers.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just going to make the situation a whole lot worse.\u201d<\/p>\n As with everything, officers will always do their best in any situation they may find themselves in, and Steve himself has had a lot of experience in dealing with the fallout from people\u2019s mental health crises.<\/p>\n \u201cOn the flip side officers are very, very good and the number of days on end I\u2019ve sat at mental health wards\u2026 we end up getting a great rapport with the person and calming them down and being their friend and whatnot.<\/p>\n \u201cBut it can sometimes go wrong, and this needs to change to stop those officers getting into issues with the IOP, for when they\u2019re just trying to do their best but they\u2019re not quite trained to deal with it and something goes wrong.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see it all the time. We hear about custody deaths, don\u2019t we, and that is something that absolutely has to change.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n