Policing the Mentally Ill: An Attitudinal Study of Police Contact With Mentally Disordered Persons Within the Gwent Constabulary

• NCJ Number: 154602
• Journal: Police Journal Volume: 68 Issue: 1 Dated: (January-March 1995) Pages: 22-28
• Author(s): K Cherrett
• Date Published: 1995
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

This study examines various issues regarding the police management of mentally ill persons in England's Gwent constabulary.

Abstract

Between 1982 and 1992, the British Government's policy of community care for the mentally ill has resulted in the loss of 23,000 beds in psychiatric hospitals throughout England and Wales. During that same period, 4,000 residential community places have been created for former psychiatric inpatients. The result has been that for every mentally ill patient released from a hospital and placed in a residential community home, there are five others whose community care is more likely to depend on family members or overburdened social services. Given the increased contact of mentally ill persons with other citizens and the limitations of family management, the police often must deal with problem behaviors of mentally ill individuals. The study reported in this article used police records and interviews with police officers to determine how the police are dealing with this responsibility in the Gwent constabulary. One issue examined was the volume of police contacts with mentally ill persons. A second issue addressed was whether police officers have the necessary skills to manage such persons effectively. A third issue was whether the police station is an appropriate place of safety for mentally ill persons. A fourth issue considered was whether the police have misused their powers under S.136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 to manage the deviant behavior of the working class. Overall, the findings show that police contact with mentally ill persons is relatively frequent, that police are not adequately trained to manage such persons, that the police station is an inadequate environment for services to them, and that police tend to stretch the use of their powers in an effort to resolve situations that involve the problem behaviors of mentally ill persons.