Trained police officers who respond to mental health incidents

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.023299

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to ask which of these - if any - are in operation in your force area. You may also operate more than one for example it may be different in rural and urban areas, or it may differ in different Health Authority areas. It may also be that you operate something else altogether, in which case could I ask what for a brief description of it.

The 3 commonest interventions include:

1. Highly trained police officers who respond to mental health incidents.
2. Joint 'triage' patrols of police officers and mental health professionals who respond to incidents.
3. A telephone 'triage' system where officers can ring a mental health professional when they are dealing with someone who is mentally ill to seek advice before they detain someone.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

In respect of “Highly trained police officers who respond to mental health incidents”, the MPS does not have any specially trained police officers in the MPS in this area. All MPS officers are expected to deal with mental health incidents and have had basic training in mental health.

In respect of “Joint 'triage' patrols of police officers and mental health professionals who respond to incidents”, there are a number of mental health ‘Triage’ projects working in South London, they all differ in how they operate.
The mental health trusts that we partner with for these are Oxleas, South London and Maudsley (SLaM) and South West London and St Georges (SWLStG).
Basic Command Units (BCU’s) predominantly involved are SE (South East), AS (Area South) and SW (South West). The projects all have mental health professionals working alongside police officers in some capacity.

In respect of “A telephone 'triage' system where officers can ring a mental health professional when they are dealing with someone who is mentally ill to seek advice before they detain someone”, we have the pan London 0300 advice line in London. However this is not operational across the whole of the capital and will only advise for patients within the Mental Health Trust where the person is known. There are nine (9) Mental Health Trusts covering London that span the MPS 12 Basic Command Units. We await the implementation of the 111 Hub to provide a comprehensive service.