Centre for Mental Health

Police and mental health services need to work together better, says Sainsbury Centre

2 September 2008

Health and social services need to do more to help the police to deal with people who have mental health problems, says a briefing published today by Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health.

The Police and Mental Health calls on the NHS to manage health care for people in police custody and to take a more active role in diverting people with mental health problems to the services they need.

The briefing also argues that all police staff should be offered training to help them to respond better to people experiencing a mental health crisis. And assessment suites should be provided by mental health services in all areas so that police stations are no longer used regularly as 'places of safety' for people police officers detain under the Mental Health Act.

Rob Fitzpatrick, Sainsbury Centre project manager and co-author of The Police and Mental Health, said: "The police are often the first point of contact for a person in a mental health crisis. Yet police officers rarely have mental health training and there are too few opportunities to divert people from police stations to health and social care services. We are missing a valuable opportunity to identify people who need help and give them support to keep them out of custody.

"Yet the opportunities to build a closer relationship between the police and health and social services now exist. Safer Neighbourhood teams could, for example, work closely with mental health teams and other local services to help people who need support to keep out of the criminal justice system."