Posted: Saturday 22 May 2010
I was dismayed to read Chief Constable Peter Fahy’s assertions in the Daily Mail this week that police forces would be better off hiring mental health nurses rather than police officers to deal with the supposedly huge numbers of mentally ‘disturbed’ offenders in our communities.
On one count Chief Constable Fahy has a point – police officers do need sufficient training to respond appropriately to members of the public with mental distress, which includes victims and witnesses as well as offenders. Mind’s ‘Another assault’ campaign identified a significant barrier to justice is the complex relationships between the police and people with mental distress, fuelled by fear and mistrust on both sides of the fence. We found victims and witnesses were reluctant to report crimes to the police, owing to fear officers wouldn’t believe them or would react unsympathetically. For police officers, insufficient training and the familiar experience of dealing with people during mental health crises can lead to a lack of confidence about how to respond appropriately to people’s needs and behaviour. Wider social stigma about the links between mental distress and violence perpetuate the problem.
Regrettably, the way Chief Constable Fahy frames his concerns only serves to perpetuate these myths. In reality, sensationalised media reports, as in the Daily Mail, of a ‘spate of killings by psychiatric patients’, bear little relation to the facts.
Thankfully, national police bodies have responded to Mind’s campaigning on this issue, recognised the complexities behind the myths, and are ready to tackle these issues head on. Next week sees the launch of new national training and guidance on mental health for all police officers. Alongside this, Mind is launching a new guide ‘Police and mental health: how to get it right locally’, which showcases a range of good practice examples from police forces around England and Wales. Frequently, close working relationships with voluntary groups who are service providers in the community, like local Minds, are the key to success, breaking down the traditional barriers that exist between the police, mental health services, and people with mental distress.
We hope officers will consider how these examples might be replicated or adapted in their own forces – so that the difficulties highlighted by Chief Constable Fahy can start to be addressed. Mind is committed to working with the police to ensure officers have the skills to serve and protect the public and everyone has equal access to justice.
And given the Home Secretary’s plans to ‘immediately’ start work on establishing elected Police Commissioners, those of us living in Greater Manchester – and indeed around the UK – might be spurred to contact their respective Chief Constables and urge them to take forward the good practice advised in Mind’s guide…
Amy Whitelock, Policy and Campaigns Officer, Mind
I'll tell you where the mad axemen live. They all stay at the Treasury for times like these. They need them for public expenditure cuts.
I think that specialist police officers should be available for such cases. As a sufferer of depression, one of the first things I noticed was that even the nurses on the secure unit I spent time in didn't understand me. Mental health is a very hushed subject because people find it embarrassing to talk about.
The police should train people with no past police experience from scratch to deal with people that have committed crimes who suffer from mental health problems. Everyone knows the general police can be a bit harsh at times and people with such problems need to be dealt with in different ways. The key point in all of this is that at no point should their mental health be risked anymore so by the police or nurses.
I Have been beaten and then arrested and charged with assault, by a police officer.
I have been laughed and jeers at by police officers when in a very depressed state.
But then i do live in northamptonshire, where we have one of the worse forces in the country for assaults, and skiving work amongst other things.
Until policing is brought back under the control of 'Serve and Protect', officers shouldnt be out on the streets, never mind being allowed to bully helpless people because they find it amusing.
Too often officers have been found to fabricate evidence, steal
, rape, lie, assault people. Police officers are only interested in the chase and glory, the word help is no longer anywhere in their vocabulary. Under no circumsatnces should they be allowed to have contact with with people who are vulnerable or in a vulnerable state.
Any steps toward reducing the stigma of mental health is a good one, as someone who has long since suffered with various mental health problems, & has been arrested to be taken to a place of safety by the police i think having specially trainned officers is a FAB idea. i dont think it should stop their, i think we have to constantly look to find ways to protect both the individuals & the wider community, without trampling on the little folk.............
i was so pleased to read that all forces are being given specialist mental health training.
i've been sectioned many a time by the police and initially was labelled an attention seeker. which was hurtful and obviously incorrect. after finally being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder i had a come-back for their sarcastic and demeaning comments. they finally started taking notice and it went on record that I had a serious mental health problem so I was dealt with kid gloves from then on. and eventually, i sent my local force a thank-you later for their help and support.
My son has just been sent to prison for an offence he committed whilst depressed despite the psychiatric report which supported the probation servis report and the Barristers agreement that a custodial sentence would be detrimental. His father died last May due to a lack of care whilst detained on Section 3 of the mental health act, he was allowed to starve to death. He had a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. He had suffered years of being put down like Aimes and judged to be attention seeking etc. He was also not prevented from jumping and sustaining a broken back and legs in spite of my warnings that he was suicidal. Now my son is also being ignored the judge said he was vulnerable but no one has spoken to him or acknowledged his depression, we saw him today and are really fearful for his safety he has three little girls and a wife who love him and are depentant on him. He had worked hard at his job and feels that he has lost everything. he is also terrified of where he is today he said he might as well be dead.
Good news! The Mind guide to good practice for police and mental health is now flagged up on the homepage of the Police Federation of England & Wales: http://www.polfed.org/
Let's hope this guide has a real impact.
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