Understanding the Changing Patterns of Behaviour Leading to Increased Detentions by the Police under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983

Abstract

The version in the Kent Academic Repository may differ from the final published version. Users are advised to check http://kar.kent.ac.uk for the status of the paper. Users should always cite the published version of record.

Understanding the concept of ‘demand’ in policing: a scoping review and resulting implications for demand management

“…In many instances, there is thus a shared responsibility for the created failure demand. An example of this is in response to mental health cases, which havefor a variety of reasonshave increasingly become a driver of police calls for service (Patel et al 2016, Thomas andForrester-Jones 2018). For example, the number of people detained by the police in the UK for compulsory treatment under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 (i.e.…”

“…For example, the number of people detained by the police in the UK for compulsory treatment under the provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 (i.e. mental health cases handled by the police) has increased from 40,000 in 2003/04 to over 63,000 in 2015/16 (Thomas and Forrester-Jones 2018). As such, the police are increasingly becoming the 'last resort' and a 'de-facto 24 h social service' (Steadman et al 1995, Lamb et al 2002, Patel et al 2016.…”

Rise in the use of section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 in England and Wales: A viewpoint on Loughran (2018)

“…23–27 Other recent research into police attitudes, notably that of Thomas and Forrester-Jones, lends some support to Bendelow’s ‘pastoral’ perspective by suggesting that it interacts with a ‘risk-averse culture’ within the police that itself contributed to the s136 rise. 28 The hypothesis here is that as mental-health issues became increasingly part of the police’s ‘core business’, so an awareness of suicide risk and pastoral concerns combined together to increase the use of s136 and the removal of the detainee to the increasingly available HBPOS rather than to a police cell.…”

“…Self-harm may also be relevant for a longer-term causal analysis of the s136 rise in the aftermath of the GFC and austerity in two ways: first because several studies have indicated that a significant reason for the police’s use of s136 occurs when the detainee is at risk of self-harm and/or suicide, including the already cited work of Thomas and Forrester-Jones; and second because Bendelow’s research emphasised how the decision making of police officers was influenced by their non-medical classifications of mental distress. 24,25,28 ‘Detentions were coded as “Suicidal”’, Bendelow and colleagues observed, ‘if the records had stated the person was detained because of concerns that they intended to end their life, had taken an overdose etc.’. 24 This is significant for what Loughran called the ‘threshold’ problem: over time, police attitudes have reduced the threshold which needs to be met for s136 to be implemented, and this reduction seems to be related to their increasing awareness of suicidal and self-harming behaviour.…”

“…20 It is also likely that the police’s pastoral concerns, as noted above, are influenced by their increasing perception of ‘risk’, as developed in the specific case of s136 in the work of Thomas and Forrester-Jones. 28 One significant development relating to ‘risk’ is the emergence of ‘street-triage’ teams in some localities. Street-triage combines mental-health nurses and police officers with the intention of providing effective responses to mental-health crises in public places.…”