Social work opinion split over police involvement in mental health incidents, poll finds

Social work opinion is divided on the police withdrawing from attending mental health incidents, a poll has found.

This follows approved mental health professionals (AMHP) raising safety concerns over the lack of police involvement since the introduction of the right care, right person (RCRP) policy in 2023.

Under RCRP, police should only attend mental health callouts to investigate a crime or when there is a real and immediate risk to life or of serious harm.

The policy was based on an analysis that found 45% of police attendances involved no crime or immediate threat of serious injury.

Yet, a Community Care poll with 1760 votes revealed a divide in social work opinion on whether the police should be attending most mental health incidents.

While just 13% agreed with the RCRP policy outright, a further 46% said they supported it in principle, but stressed that health and social care would need to be resourced to deal with the added workload. 

However, 41% believed police absence would put practitioners at increased risk.

Overreliance on the police force

Some social workers took to the comments section of the related article to speak out about social care’s overreliance on the police to “plug the gaps”.

“Taking police for granted that they will plug the gaps in our services and be an alternative safe space was always going to bite us eventually,” said one practitioner.

“I had this discussion practically every opportunity I got in the past four years with our AMHP lead but, as ever, it went nowhere.”

Gill S agreed that police involvement had helped mask social care’s lack of resources.

However, she warned that while officers should step back “from a responsibility which is beyond their remit”, the pace at which this was happening was worrying. 

“The impact on services and individuals could be catastrophic.”

“We as AMHPs, as mental health workers and social workers, need to own our responsibility in our overreliance on the use of police as a default,” added Tahin.

“There we are telling the public that people with mental illness are no more violent than them but seek police assistance as routine. Why? We too are culpable for why the police have decided to narrow their reasons for responding.”

Safety concerns

However, others voiced safety concerns over practitioners attending mental health assessments alone.

“Police should be involved where necessary as they have more safety equipment where doctors and AMHPs have a pen and a piece of paper,” said one practitioner.

“They are crucial in some cases in the [presence] of harm to the individual concerned and the other people involved, including family members. I speak from a 40-year career in social care.”

Sheena, who quit social work after being attacked while completing an assessment alone, stressed the danger of practitioners working at early hours on their own.

“The attack ended my social work career. They stated that the local authority could not foresee that I would have been attacked. My concern [is] aimed at the lone working policy out of hours and how this places AMHPs at unacceptable risk.”

Another practitioner, Neil, spoke out about the danger police absence posed to both citizens and AMHPs.

“After 14 years of disastrous austerity cuts, including over £40 billion from local authorities, and over 3,000 inpatient beds cut, there is no money in the NHS or councils to fund practical support for AMHPs or other mental health staff to do their riskiest work, such as mental health assessments. 

“The police knew this but withdrew anyway.”

What are your thoughts on reduced police presence during mental health incidents?

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