POLICE emergency detentions of people suffering mental health crises have soared over the past decade, according to new watchdog report.
Research by the Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland found the use of “place of safety orders” increased from 130 in 2006/07, to 1133 in 2016/17.
The orders can be used by the police under section 297 of the Mental Health (Care and Treatment ) (Scotland) Act 2003 when they find someone in a public place who they believe may have a mental disorder and be in immediate need of care and treatment.
The person can be taken to, and detained in, a place of safety for up to 24 hours in order to be assessed by a doctor, and for any necessary arrangements to be made for that person’s care and treatment.
Under the law police stations should only be used as the place of safety in exceptional circumstances, where it is the best option for the person.
According to the Commission’s report, police said they came across a wide range of situations during their regular work and that in many of the cases the person had been speaking about plans to hurt or kill themselves.
Officers also told researchers that they came across people who were ‘agitated’ ‘distressed’ ‘upset’ and ‘crying’ with some said to be ‘appearing to hallucinate’ or ‘being delusional’.
Police also spoke of coming across people ‘lying on the ground’, ‘being on the roof of a nearby house’, ‘in the street in pyjamas’, ‘removing clothes’, ‘smashing up [their] home’ or ‘shouting and banging’.
They also reported distressed people standing on the ‘edge of carriageways’, ‘running into traffic’, ‘running around’, ‘being rowdy’, ‘acting bizarrely, erratically’, ‘shouting at passing cars’, ‘punching bus stops’.
The Commission’s monitoring work involved examining data and interviewing police officers as well as people who had been detained by the police.
The Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland's Chief Executive Colin McKay said the reason for the increase in the use of the orders was not clear, though it was possible that police reporting procedures had improved over the period.
“Our interviews with the police and with people who had been subject to a place of safety order revealed a high level of care and compassion from the officers involved,” he said.
“Reasons for the rise in numbers could not be determined. It may be due to better reporting of the statistics by the police, although it could simply be due to a greater use of the orders.”
Findings included high levels of care and professionalism shown by police officers towards often highly distressed individuals, who were at risk of self harm.
The Commission also found that the vast majority of people subject to a place of safety order – 92% – were not judged by the doctors who assessed them as having to be detained in hospital; and also identified significant variations in the use of, or reporting of, place of safety orders across Scotland, with the Highlands recording the highest number, followed by Orkney, then Grampian.
The report said that more than 95% of removals were to a hospital, with fewer than 5% to a police station, and that variations in the use of place of safety orders across health board areas could relate to the availability – or lack of availability – of community triage or related services.
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