Police records retained if a public member is referred to mental hospital

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.022928

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to know if Police records are kept if a member of the public is referred to a mental hospital by the Police force.

Decision

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

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

The MPS do not keep record of everyone that are referred to a Mental hospital. If we have concerns prior to them going in or police have come into contact with them and have taken them to hospital themselves, then a record is added to the merlin system (Missing Persons & Related Linked Indices), so the LA (Local Authorities) are aware and/or if someone is reported missing then we have a record to show where they are.

A merlin record is recorded for vulnerabilities that reach the thresholds so we can safeguard people. This is shared with the LA’s but we don’t keep any records of hospitals or Health Based Places of Trust. Once a person is sectioned we do not keep any follow up records.