Mental health in austere times: The increasing role of police intervention in cases of mental distress in the UK

In 2016, the head of the College of Policing stated that the police are increasingly stepping in where
other agencies would have previously provided support for the crisis of mental health on the streets.
However, little is known about the police response to mental health, and particularly to what extent
police intervention contributes to numbers of S.136 detentions1. In 2016, the College of Policing
published the Authorized Professional Practice (APP) guidance2, stating that an effective police
response to mental health requires a partnership approach, but there has been little analysis of how
APP is embedded in practice in the Northwest of England, and the extent to which it has improved
local arrangements that seek to avert arrest and reduce detention.
The College of Policing acknowledges that responding to mental health is core business for the police
service, but has also stated that little is known about particular challenges across the country given
differences in local area funding and commissioning arrangements3. Local areas require robust local
intelligence to enable practice improvement, but typically, local area data is under-exploited given
demands on frontline practitioners and cuts to analytic services. As part of a concerted effort to
enhance research capability within the N8 policing partnership, this project will be located in
Lancashire police services, which is building a doctoral student unit offering unique opportunity for
peer support and knowledge exchange for students.
This project is timely in the context of a national review of rising mental health detentions4. Over the
past decade, detentions have risen by 47%, despite an emphasis within mental health policy on
reducing admissions. In Lancashire, mental health detentions were at an all-time high, prompting
investment in a street triage that saw dramatic reduction in both detentions and A&E visits5.
Additionally, this is an ESRC funding priority, with the ESRC stating a range of social, economic and
system factors influence mental health. To date, the dynamics of rising detention rates which
comprise cuts to community services, rising poverty and homelessness, together with a reduction in
the number of Approved Mental Health Practitioners (AMHPs)6 are poorly understood.