Use of police cells to hold people suffering mental health crisis ‘halved’
The number of times that police cells in England and Wales are being used to hold people suffering a mental health crisis has more than halved in one year.
The 53.7% drop from 4,537 in 2014/15 to 2,100 a year later shows steps are being made to treat mental health patients who have not committed a crime in a “suitable environment” rather than putting them in police custody, according to Commander Christine Jones of the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
She said there were “still significant challenges” to ensure that much-needed bed spaces and less urgent mental health care was made available so they were treated by the right professionals in an appropriate setting.
The data, released by NPCC, shows the number of times that police cells in England and Wales were used as a place of safety under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
This allows officers to detain someone who they believe has a mental disorder and may harm themselves or others in a safe place where a mental health assessment can be carried out.
There were 43 under-18-year-olds in this situation who were taken directly to police custody in 2015/16 compared to 161 in 2014/15 – a 73.3% reduction.
There were also 26,171 cases which were referred straight to health-based places of safety, according to the NPCC.
Earlier this year the Government launched a £15 million fund to end the “scandal” of people with mental health problems being held in police cells.
Home Office minister Sarah Newton said: “Police cells should not be used as a place of safety for someone suffering a mental health crisis, who has committed no crime.
“What they need is urgent medical care and support.”
Describing the detainment as a “totally unacceptable practice,” she added: “We are determined to put an end to it, which is why we have announced £15 million of Department of Health funding to increase provision of health-based alternative places of safety and why, through the Policing and Crime Bill, we are banning the use of police stations for this purpose for under-18s.”
New measures were also announced by the Home Office to limit the availability of police cells for detaining someone in mental health crisis to “exceptional circumstances”, with a blanket ban on using them as a place of safety for children.
Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2016, All Rights Reserved. Picture (c) Paul Faith / PA Wire.
