Police having to provide mental health care due to shortage of other workers, watchdog warns
Sir Tom Winsor said cops are having to provide medical care when no paramedics were available
COPS are having to provide mental health care due to a shortage of other workers, a watchdog has warned.
Sir Tom Winsor said cops are having to provide medical care when no paramedics were available and were being forced to lock up mentally ill people who had committed no crime.
Britain’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary said the provision of mental healthcare has reached “such a state of severity” that police are often being used to fill the gaps other agencies cannot.
Publishing his annual State of Policing report, he said: “The severe problems in mental health provision in this country are not only failing those who need treatment; they also create an unacceptable strain on the police and imperil public safety.”
He added: “This is an unacceptable drain on police resources, and it is a profoundly improper way to treat vulnerable people who need care and help,” he said.
“The first obligation of the police is to prevent crime. This is not only because this makes society safer - both in reality and in perception - but also because it is far cheaper to prevent a crime than it is to investigate and arrest the offender after the event.
"The same is true of mental ill-health, which is not a crime.”
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The report warns the problems will worsen until mental health is given the same priority as physical health.
It said by the time officers become involved, many opportunities to help will already have been missed.
Police handled almost 300,000 incidents involving mental health in the UK last year.
South Wales Police had the highest number of any force at 38,712.
This was followed by Nottinghamshire Police, which registered 19,973 incidents, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which registered 19,668.
Campaigners said the “shocking” figures were evidence of a lack of funding and provision for those with mental health problems.