Displaying items by tag: London Met Community
Police to attend fewer mental health calls
The Met Police will stop attending emergency mental health incidents from September, only responding if there is an ‘immediate threat to life’, thus freeing up officers untrained in mental health issues to deal with crime. The Royal College of Psychiatrists called this ‘unhelpful’. Police are concerned about ‘mission creep’ - police filling gaps left by cuts to other services. But when Robert Peel birthed the Met the police were ‘paid to give full-time attention to everyone in the interests of community welfare’. Community welfare includes the confused elderly man gone missing or the young girl in the street distressed. The Met’s plan was adopted by Humberside Police’s Right Care, Right Person scheme in 2020. Now mental health calls are dealt with by mental health professionals. It successfully improved outcomes, reduced demand on all services, and has the right care delivered by the right person.