Policing and Mental Illness in England and Wales post Bradley

Cummins, Ian

doi:10.1093/police/pas024

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Section 136 (S136) has long been a controversial aspect of the Mental Health Act and scrutiny from government, leading bodies and academic literature has increased during the last decade [3,4,5,6,7,8]. One reason driving this ongoing focus has been the rates at which people have been detained, which appeared to have risen steeply during this time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Warrington

2019

IJERPH

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Most police Mental Health Act (Section 136) detentions in England and Wales relate to suicide prevention. Despite attempts to reduce detention rates, numbers have risen almost continually. Although Section 136 has been subject to much academic and public policy scrutiny, the topic of individuals being detained on multiple occasions remains under-researched and thus poorly understood. A mixed methods study combined six in-depth interviews with people who had experienced numerous suicidal crises and police intervention, with detailed police and mental health records. A national police survey provided wider context. Consultants with lived experience of complex mental health problems jointly analysed interviews. Repeated detention is a nationally recognised issue. In South East England, it almost exclusively relates to suicide or self-harm and accounts for a third of all detentions. Females are detained with the highest frequencies. The qualitative accounts revealed complex histories of unresolved trauma that had catastrophically damaged interviewee’s relational foundations, rendering them disenfranchised from services and consigned to relying on police intervention in repeated suicidal crises. A model is proposed that offers a way to conceptualise the phenomenon of repeated detention, highlighting that long-term solutions to sustain change are imperative, as reactive-only responses can perpetuate crisis cycles.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Warrington

2019

IJERPH

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show abstract

“…Section 136 (S136) has long been a controversial aspect of the Mental Health Act and scrutiny from government, leading bodies and within academic literature has increased during the last decade [3][4][5][6][7][8]. One reason driving this ongoing focus has been the rates at which people have been detained, which appeared to have risen steeply during this time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Warrington

2019

Preprint

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Most police Mental Health Act (Section 136) detentions in England and Wales relate to suicide prevention. Despite attempts to reduce detention rates, numbers have risen almost continually. Although Section 136 has been subject to much academic and public policy scrutiny, the topic of individuals being detained on multiple occasions remains under-researched and thus poorly understood. A mixed methods study combined six in-depth interviews with people who had experienced numerous suicidal crises and police intervention, with detailed police and mental health records. A national police survey provided wider context. Consultants with lived experience of complex mental health problems jointly analysed interviews. Repeated detention is a nationally recognised issue. In South East England it almost exclusively relates to suicide or self-harm and accounts for a third of all detentions. Females are detained with the highest frequencies. The qualitative accounts revealed complex histories of unresolved trauma that had catastrophically damaged interviewee’s relational foundations, rendering them disenfranchised from services and consigned to relying on police intervention in repeated suicidal crises. A model is proposed that offers a way to conceptualise the phenomenon of repeated detention, highlighting that long-term solutions to sustain change are imperative, as reactive-only responses can perpetuate crisis cycles.

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“…In contrast within the same subscale the police group scored significantly higher in response to Q48 'People with mental health problems should have the same rights to a job as anyone else', Q42 'Most women who were once patients in a mental hospital can be trusted as babysitters' and Q25 'Mental illness is an illness like any other'. It can therefore, be argued that the makeup of the responses reflect policing experience or perceptions of the dangerousness of some people with mental ill health and that the public require protection (Watson, et al, 2004;Cummins, 2012). Furthermore, there is a recurring frustration in having to deal with increased mental health related incidents caused by a perceived lack of activity from social services and mental health agencies.…”

Section: Cami and Maksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, there is a recurring frustration in having to deal with increased mental health related incidents caused by a perceived lack of activity from social services and mental health agencies. Combined with the impact of austerity measures this can have a negative impact on some police attitudes (Cummins, 2012;Morgan & Paterson, 2017). A male police constable summed this up, Disagree stronglywe need to spend more on MH services (a) to help more peoplepreventing them reaching crisis by making MH services more easily accessible and timely, and by responding to crisis (b) to reduce demand on police (c) to reduce demand on ambulance (d) to reduce demand on A&E Even then the genuineness or credibility of those seeking help is questioned (Watson, et al, 2004).…”

Section: Cami and Maksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suspicious minds: Police Attitudes to Mental Ill Health

Bell¹,

Palmer-Conn²

2018

IJLPA

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Policing and mental ill health are inextricably entwined. The police have a role to respond to distressed persons and depending on the circumstances act as mental health practitioners or law enforcement officers. Policing can have an impact on the mental health of those delivering the service. Those working within policing will either experience, work alongside and/or manage colleagues with mental ill health. Therefore it is important that the attitudes of police officers and police staff to mental ill health are established. The research employs the Time to Change Survey to bench mark police attitudes against the general public. Results indicate that police officers/staff hold similar attitudes to the public. However police officers are less supportive of community based interventions. Police data portrays an organisation where mental health related stigma persists, where discussing or seeking help is avoided and having a mental health issue seen as career destroying.

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Policing and Mental Illness in England and Wales post Bradley

Cited by 9 publications

References 50 publications

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Repeated Police Mental Health Act Detentions in England and Wales: Trauma and Recurrent Suicidality

Suspicious minds: Police Attitudes to Mental Ill Health

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