Download Response to the HMIC Report A Criminal Use of Police Cells? (The

Response to the HMIC Report A Criminal Use of Police Cells?
(The use of police custody as a place of safety for people with mental
health needs)
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex
This response is submitted on behalf of the Sussex Police and Crime
Commissioner (SPCC). It focuses on the extent to which police custody is
used as a place of safety under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983,
and how the principles of best practice for those people suffering from mental
illness who, for their own safety, are detained in police custody, are deployed
in Sussex.
Introduction
The SPCC welcomes the HMIC Report and recognises the difficulties faced in
finding appropriate help for people who are suffering from mental health
issues and are clearly in need of some immediate care. There is a high
number of detainees in Sussex who have mental health issues and there is a
concern that it should not simply be the responsibility of the police to deal
with this problem.
The Use of a Police Station as a Place of Safety
The Police & Crime Commissioner recognises that a police station should be
used as a place of safety only on an exceptional basis or in exceptional
circumstances.
Police Use of Section 136
The number of people detained under Section 136 during 2011 (the reporting
period) in Sussex was 2,163, of which the percentage brought into police
custody as a primary or secondary place of safety was 55% (approximately
1300). This figure represents 15% of the country’s reported total number of
Mental Health Act detentions in police stations. From March 2012 to April
2013 the number of people detained under S136 of the Mental Health Act
1983 in Sussex is 1568. Of those 941 were detained in Police custody, 518
were detained in a hospital based place of safety and 109 were transferred
between both custody and hospital places of safety.
There is accurate recording of the reasons for detention in Sussex, and
Sussex Police can be proud of the attitude of its employees when dealing
with mental health detainees in its care.
The Commissioner has been supportive of the pilot scheme funded by the
Department of Health to have a mental health nurse accompany a police
officer to incidents where police believe people need immediate mental health
support. Sussex was selected to take part in this pilot project, which has
been welcomed by the Commissioner, whose key objective is to achieve the
best possible outcome for individuals and the community, and alleviate the
strain currently put on police officers.
Strategic Oversight and Direction
Compliance with the Codes of Practice is robust and effective. The Mental
Health Strategy was created to facilitate good working relationships between
all parties involved in implementing the protocols and policies of the Mental
Health Act 1983. It provides operational guidance to all officers when dealing
with a detained person with a mental health illness. A jointly agreed protocol
for the assessment of persons under Sections 135 and 136 of The Mental
Health Act in respect of those brought by the police to a place of safety is in
place. The Force has a dedicated Mental Health Liaison Officer who works
with the Mental Health provider and provides training and guidance to
custody staff.
A new programme will be in the Force soon, with more systems being
replaced by Niche. There are real benefits to the new system in the custody
environment, enabling intelligence and medical records to be seen at the
same time. Mobile policing will allow the system to be accessed remotely.
Recommendations
The Police & Crime Commissioner’s response to the 11 Recommendations are
listed below, to include those Recommendations to other agencies, so that
the Police & Crime Commissioner can hold partner agencies to account:
Recommendation 1 The Codes of Practice should be amended to bring detention times
for those detained in police custody under section 136 in line with
those in the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, which allows up
to 24 hours in police custody (out of the maximum of 72 hours for
which they can be detained overall).
Amendment of the Codes of Practice would be welcomed. An amendment as
above would have affected 49 mental health detainees’ cases in 2012.
Recommendation 2 Health and Social Care Information centre to alter data collection.
Recommendation 3 The College of Policing, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, the College
of Social Work, police forces and mental health service providers
should work together to develop and deliver joint training to staff.
This should incorporate information on legal powers and local
protocols, and include regular refresher training.
The Police & Crime Commissioner for Sussex is a Board Member of The
College of Policing and will use her position to work together with relevant
agencies to ensure training at different levels on the issues faced by mental
health detainees is delivered to staff. Sussex Police is looking at developing
the national training framework, building on the NCALT awareness course, as
well as developing the processes and procedures needed.
Recommendation 4 Clinical Commissioning Groups and local social services should make
sure that they have commissioned sufficient capacity to meet the
demand for assessment under Section 136, and that multi-agency
working is effective. This includes commissioners in local social
services authorities with responsibility for ensuring that the number
of AMHPs is sufficient to meet the need for assessments under the
Mental Health Act 1983.
Sussex Police meets on a regular basis with other agencies under the
umbrella of The Mental Health Act Monitoring Group. The issues of capacity,
and staffing levels, of all professionals involved is raised here.
Recommendation 5 NHS England and Local Health Boards in Wales should ensure that
local commissioning of mental health services is appropriate, and
that they provide sufficient capacity and resilience to meet demand.
This should be in line with those areas where police custody is
currently only used on an exceptional basis.
Sussex Police can provide data to NHS England about the times and places
S136 patients are detained.
Recommendation 6 Commissioners and providers of social services and health services
should ensure that they identify periods of demand for the reception
and assessment of persons detained under Section 136, and that
they effectively manage resources to meet this demand.
The introduction of the pilot scheme mentioned previously, whereby a mental
health nurse accompanies a police officer to situations where there is
believed to be a need for their expertise, will help to manage resources in an
effective manner.
Recommendation 7 Health and Wellbeing Boards in England should include Section 136
provision as part of their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.
The Commissioner has extended an offer to sit on each of the three Sussex
Health and Wellbeing Boards, East Sussex having offered an observer
position in order to support better the strategic link between health and
crime and disorder issues.
Recommendation 8 The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills
(Ofsted), HMIC, CQC, HIW, HMI Probation, HMIP and Her Majesty’s
Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) should examine
and highlight as part of their multi-agency inspections of child
protection arrangements the inappropriate use of police custody as a
place of safety for children under 18 years who are detained under
Section 136.
This has been noted.
Recommendation 9 The CQC … should use their combined powers under the Mental
Health Act 1983 and the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to develop a
robust approach to the regulation of mental health providers. The
objective must be to hold services to account for their
responsibilities under the Codes of Practice – in this instance, to
ensure that places of safety in healthcare settings for the reception
and assessment of individuals detained by the police under Section
136 are appropriately staffed and secure.
This has been noted.
Recommendation 10 Police custody officers should ensure that a full explanation is
recorded in the custody record as to why a person detained under
Section 136 has not been accepted into a health-based place of
safety.
This is now in place. This was not previous practice within the Force, but an
instruction has been sent out to all custody officers mandating this to be
included in the circumstances of detention. This may be then part of the
review of each MH detention that is carried out on each centre.
Recommendation 11 …We will closely monitor the use of police custody as a place of
safety in our joint police custody inspections, and if we do not find a
significant reduction in its inappropriate use by April 2016, we will
seek the implementation of the following recommendation:
The Mental Health Act 1983 should be amended to remove a
police station as a place of safety for those detained under
Section 136, except on an exceptional basis.
This has been noted.