RECENT BLOG - "No Warrant, No Police" “No warrant, no police is a genuinely stupid and dangerous idea." mentalhealthcop.com/2026/03/11/n...

Just in case this needs pointing out (when it really shouldn't), *ONLY* a police officer can execute a warrant issued under s135(1) MHA - - No point asking an AMHP to do it themselves. - No point suggesting the ambulance service do it. By law, *ONLY* the police can do this. 1/

PFD No 22 to be telling us something concerning which was not just predictable, but was, in fact, predicted! And yet no evaluation, little to no public comment, bland press releases which ignore the issues and the concerns which were made known before people died. For shame.

Police 'called repeatedly' before woman found dead - A PFD has been issued and @CheshirePolice (in receipt of their 2nd PFD for RCRP) are yet to respond. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW BLOG - "Call For Evidence" The Government has announced a consultation on a new mental health strategy for England. A short post containing the summary, press release and submission portal if you want to make your views known. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/05/15/c...

Mental health unit under investigation over abuse concerns. A statutory "section 42" inquiry by the local authority has been lauched. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Spent a great day in Cardiff with delivering CPD for Cardiff and Vale AMHPs. A whole day going through AMHPing challenges in custody, Nottingham, the “no beds” / unlawful detention challenges, Surrey Police v PC and Ors of course, RCRP. Next stop - Shrewsbury AMHPs.

Man shot dead by police was a "quite man" who "had mental health issues" say neighbours. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW BLOG - "Independent Mental Health Investigations." We have, in principle, independent mechanisms for unexplained or unexpected deaths in police or prison custody. Why not in mental health care? mentalhealthcop.com/2026/05/13/i...

The Nottingham Tragedy: Policies to prevent future killings by psychiatric patients Yesterday's Policy Exchange seminar - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BU0...

NEW BLOG - "Independent Mental Health Investigations." We have, in principle, independent mechanisms for unexplained or unexpected deaths in police or prison custody. Why not in mental health care? mentalhealthcop.com/2026/05/13/i...

NEW BLOG - "No PFD Issued" Not all inquests lead to a PFD and sometimes that's because organisations reassure a Coroner during an inquest. So how many inquests have seen no PFD issued, where there were problems and concerns? SPOILER: we don't know. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/05/06/n...

Four-fifths of UK mental health nurses say their workload is unmanageable. I'm surprised it's that low, frankly - and I suspect AMHPs, psychiatrists and others would say the same. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

NEW BLOG - “More Ways To Misuse ‘Capacity’.” We had misuse for criminal investigation recently; this is about misuse of the term ‘capacity’ for other legal reasons. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/05/03/m...

Section 140 of the Mental Health Act has now been law for over 67yrs - We're probably nearing the end of the trial period and we can then tell people, so they've at least heard of it and can start to think about the implications. mentalhealthcop.com/2014/01/23/s...

NEW BLOG - "Tramlines, Not Guidelines" A new Preventing Future Deaths report sees a coroner using a memorable turn of phrase to highlight a particular problem in the way policy is implemented. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/30/t...

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATH REPORT - RCRP completed inquest 26m, PFD no 22, this time for @cheshirepolice.bsky.social who have already had one RCRP PFD and now have a second. "Tramlines, not guidelines" ... I think that will be the blog title when I write it. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

NEW BLOG - "Lessons Learned?" A new PFD for Lincolnshire Police after the sad death of a man who was restrained. Echoes of other deaths from earlier in the century where claims were expressly made - albeit not by Lincolnshire - of lessons learned. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/29/l...

Note to self: must crack on with PhD - A critical realist, qualitative document analysis of PFDs and autoethnography connected to RCRP. 10,000 words due by end of May for annual progress review.

New published article from @uclcrimescience.bsky.social researchers on RCRP in an English police force. See what you think. I said "no" three times before the end of the first sentence and spent a lot of time wondering about a lack of citations for claims made. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

NEW BLOG - "Legally Nonsensical" Even since @capacitylaw's evidence at the #NottinghamInquiry and other barristers backing up the point he made, there are STILL mental health professionals and police arguing the toss about 'capacity' in criminal law. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/22/l...

Excellent from @jerryratcliffe.net - Diversion | Mental Health | Alternative Responses | The "Doorman" Fallacy. "Alternative responders have a narrow role. For all their imperfections, police, like hotel doormen, have a broad social function." www.vitalcitynyc.org/policing-alt...

NEW BLOG - "Scottish Handovers in ED" This one is in response to Scottish Police Federation and @policescotland.bsky.social after recent evidence to the Scottish Justice Committee. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/15/s...

NEW BLOG - "The System" Accidentally published two posts on the same day - apologies! They're out there now so may as well leave it that way. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/15/t...

We knew “Right Care, Right Person” had been relevant in the Southport Inquiry and it’s got its own little section in the report. Quite a lot going on in between the lines of this one! 1/

NEW BLOG - "Southport" First impressions - the report is +750 pages long, so it is inevitably based on a snap shot / skim read. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/13/s...

"Every review has added up to a comprehensive audit of why nobody was responsible … this was not an unfortunate one-off, but yet another grotesque whole-system failure.” - Excellent from @NotThatBigIan in the Telegraph (£). www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/04...

A forensic psychiatrist working in prison (who I've known for years / decades!) recently told me of something called "the red route". Mentally ill suspects arrested for serious crimes deliberately not assessed MHA in police custody, because of a presumption to prosecute. 1/

NEW BLOG - "Supervised Discharge" A new legal mechanism, introduced in the Mental Health Act 2025 and in effect since February, is "supervised discharge". Advice around this going awry is "call the police" - see new post for details! mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/08/s...

Lovely eMail from an officer who used my blog to find a weird "Community Treatment Order" answer - "Thanks to you my tissue thin veneer of appearing competent is intact for another day!" That's *exactly* who the blog was for: frontline police officers - www.mentalhealthcop.com

NEW BLOG - "Have You Heard of RAVE?!" Another way to look at a threshold for police involvement - Resistance, Aggression, Violence or Escape. I was recently asked if I'd heard of my own idea. 😂 mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/01/h...

NEW BLOG - "Have You Heard of RAVE?!" Another way to look at a threshold for police involvement - Resistance, Aggression, Violence or Escape. I was recently asked if I'd heard of my own idea. 😂 mentalhealthcop.com/2026/04/01/h...

"Is psychiatry’s focus on race stats linked to Nottingham attacks?" Swaran Singh became 'persona non grata' with his professional college for his work on race and mental health. This article is very interesting (£) www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATHS REPORT - Police and ambulance attend a patient who has taken an overdose and assess that he has capacity to decline medical care - he subsequently died. "What can frontline crews actually do?", the Coroner asks. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

NEW BLOG - "Warrants Attention" On the issue of whether earlier execution of the VC arrest warrant would have made any difference. Spoiler: it's hardly the point. #NottinghamInquiry mentalhealthcop.com/2026/03/25/w...

At the Midlands Art Centre today, next to Cannon Hill Park in Birmingham - delivering CPD for psychiatrists and looking forward to a good afternoon. I was a sergeant in this area - wish I could go places without remembering the murders and other badness! Spoils a lovely day!

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATHS REPORT - Ambulance and not police related, but could easily be a situation in to which the police are drawn so worth reading. All about crisis response in private dwellings, the MCA versus the MHA and helping people. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

A commentary piece on Right Care, Right Person with Claire Warrington and Carolina Campodonico after the @glepha.bsky.social conference in Ottawa last year - discussion to be continued at the eighth edition in Leeds in September. Published in the @JournalCSWB - www.journalcswb.ca/index.php/cs...

Should be a very interesting day at the #NottinghamInquiry — Chief Constable Kate Meynell, in her final act before retirement, is giving evidence.

NEW BLOG - "The Fundamental Contradiction" So was MHA assessment for VC not required, or was it to do with NHS access criteria for the service he may well need?! It can't be both - if he doesn't need assessment, you don't need a bed. #NottinghamInquiry mentalhealthcop.com/2026/03/18/t...

Blog written after today's #NottinghamInquiry - we heard why no MHA was done but there's a contradiction - a) it wasn't needed; but also b) they couldn't access the correct type of bed given the risk. But you don't need a bed if he doesn't need to be assessed. Out tomorrow.

Greater acuity in Northern Ireland than in the UK as a whole, lower MH funding, greater political obstacles to fixing problems - 25% of consultant psychiatry posts are 'effectively' unfilled. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATH REPORT — Inquest no 26 to mention #RCRP, PFD no 21. “Communications challenges have increased since the introduction of the Right Care, Right Person policy.” www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

I notice "Right Care, Right Person" has come up at the #NottinghamInquiry with the Chief Constable of Leicestershire's evidence. THIS. IS. IRRELEVANT - and I knew it would come up. EVERY contact with VC we've heard about involves CRIME or warrants the police must execute.

NEW BLOG - "No Warrant, No Police" Another piece of folklore from policing & mental health, which has already caused serious untoward outcomes but yet still will not go away. mentalhealthcop.com/2026/03/11/n...

NHS orders 274 patients be removed from from crisis-hit hospital. And by "crisis", they euphemistically mean "criminal investigations galore". Difficult sometimes to find one MHA bed - can't wait to see how they try to find almost 300 all at once. www.independent.co.uk/news/health/...

Listed for trial in September 2028, TWO AND A HALF YEARS from now! Things have changed a lot since the Auf Wiedersehen, Pet days when Barry Taylor complained justice in the West Midlands was "swift and merciless"! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Questions to an officer about the importance of following a police force's MH policy and procedure. It's worth noting: Many forces have policies / procedures on MH which aren't great and could get officers in to professional difficulty. Inquests show this. #NottinghamInquiry

This article is bouncing around police social media to a 'round of applause. It's almost as if the kinds of over-simplified ideas within it are not being played out and tested in a public inquiry where people died, isn't it? Such attitudes and such outcomes are related - 1/