OLD BLOG - "New Section 136 Data" Almost a year ago, the latest 136 data was published so we should expect a new publication in a week or two. Will s136 use reduce again? - probably. I would suggest PFDs over the last year are showing something. 1/ mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/n...

NEW BLOG - “Inputs and Outcomes” We say risk decision-making should be judged by the quality of the decision, not by the outcome, but is it? mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/i...

Police refused search for suicidal sex abuse victim — www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW BLOG - "And Here We Go Again" Less than a week after assurances the police will always respond to "immediate risk" incidents, another Preventing Future Death report showing they didn't. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/09/21/a...

In my PhD database of mental health police contact deaths, this is RCRP MH-PCD no 18 and RCRP PFD no 16. Emerging theme — - Non-response to obvious risk - Deflecting to the ambulance service an incident where the patient’s location is not known. - IRTL threshold misunderstood.

Despite @PoliceChiefs assurances last weekend the police would “always respond” to reports of a mental health incident where there was an “immediate risk to life”, here is another new PFD which suggests otherwise. The sad death of Charlotte Tetley — t.co/R7ymLBirjp

NEW BLOG - "Losing The Argument" Reflecting on some years trying to put an argument, believing it failed on its own terms but it wasn't really an argument at all. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/09/14/l...

Induction week at @worcesteruni.bsky.social - First chance to meet the whole criminology team and I’m here nice and early as they have a most excellent cafe in the Elgar building to keep me properly caffeinated. Wonder if new staff can join societies or just students?! 😂

NEW BLOG - "Losing The Argument" Reflecting on some years trying to put an argument, believing it failed on its own terms but it wasn't really an argument at all. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/09/14/l...

"Whistleblower warned police against axing mental health callouts" - Strictly speaking, I cautioned them against axing mental health callouts they should still be going to, but near enough. Also nice to see @wmpolice.bsky.social did not deny ignoring my concerns. www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

I usually go to bed around 10pm and as I walk up the stairs, I'm always thankful I'm off to bed, not off to work - and grateful to those who stay awake all night to keep us safe. I'll never take that for granted as no-one is obliged to do this, they choose to serve. #team999

'Police ended mental health role - now my Sophie's dead.' Right Care, Right Person in focus (£). #RCRP www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

IOPC investigation after man dies in hospital following arrest — A sad incident from August is now being independently investigated with officers so far treated as witnesses. www.policeconduct.gov.uk/news/iopc-in...

DCT AUDIO PODCAST - audioboom.com/posts/877521... This is sensitive stuff, so be careful. @dctaudio.bsky.social, @iofiv.bsky.social and I had a chat about a topic which really bothers each of us. Dave's done a great job editing out the waffle and Richard's always worth listening to.

The narrative policing’s role in society’s mental health is limited only to “risks of death or serious injury” continues unabashed in today’s “State of Policing” report from HMICFRS. It’s not correct - crime / the King’s Peace entirely unmentioned. s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets-hmicf...

My take from these two days, having listened to a number of specialists across topics where I have none — Political oversight / ownership of this stuff is light-touch, detail-free and arms length. They want to own popular ideas but don’t want detail, evidence or problems.

Day Two at @vp-centre.bsky.social conference in Leeds — I am now 84% full of yoghurt and coffee, armed with diet fizzy water and (another) new notebook ready for all things policing and vulnerability, inc a session on police diversion. Let’s do this!

NEW BLOG - “Vested Interests” Professions have recently been shouting their opposite perspectives on the same issue, because it’s their naked interests to do so, not because it’s “right”, “wrong” or in any way balanced or nuaced. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/09/10/v...

Just arrived in Leeds after a very early start - there isn’t enough coffee in the world! ☕️ Here for two days for the @vp-centre.bsky.social conference - and I’m not presenting so just get to relax and suck up bright ideas I wish I’d thought of … whilst drinking their coffee. ☑️

Decided to join @BritSocCrim as I continue my professional transition from policing to academia - you get some "free" stuff, too! It made me think about "having an 'ology" ... that means I'm a scientist, right?! (Some of the older ones will get the Maureen Lipman reference!)

The last Code of Practice for the Mental Health Act 1983 was issued in 2015 for England; and in 2016 for Wales. Then the law changed in 2017, rendering some of it irrelevant, especially chapters 16/17 in each document. It has remained out of date ever since. 1/

I'm now sitting just short of 250 MH related police contact deaths on my spreadsheet, almost exactly half of which include a Preventing Future Deaths report from a coroner. But 20 of those PCDs are yet to reach inquest - we should assume around half will also lead to a PFD once completed.

I'm left wondering why @gmpolice.bsky.social delayed for 2hrs before deploying, but I'm more interested in why the police were thought to be appropriate for a man so very obviously as unwell as 80yr old Mr Hamid. RCRP based delay? - response to the PFD will be interesting to read.

This PFD notice is a complex and very sad case but it raises loads of questions for us to think about - It relates to an 80yr care home resident, Mr Masood Hamid, being "sectioned" and moved to a hospital ward for admission under s2 MHA. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o... 1/

UNIVERSITY PhD DAY - back at it after a few weeks (more or less) off: It's interesting to think about how Coroner's reach decisions about whether an inquest should be an "Article 2" inquest or not and I'm seeing mixed approaches which make me wonder about consistency. 1/

NEW BLOG - “Baked In” There is one situation which makes me nervous about the decision to keep s135/136 powers reserved to the police. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/b...

This is the refreshed and newly republished Health and Policing Consensus (2025) entitled, "Working Together to Protect and Prevent Harm to Communities". www.npcc.police.uk/SysSiteAsset...

NEW BLOG - “What Lessons Learned?” Bereaved families seek it, senior officials promise it - why the difficulty in ensuring “lessons learned”? mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/w...

West Mercia Police apologise over vulnerable man held in custody. Mr Prosser was not afforded an appropriate adult after his arrest for common assault. He was held overnight, his sister not informed and no rationale for why an AA was not sought. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

It was a sad but necessary pleasure to sit down with @dctaudio.bsky.social and Richard Horton last month and talk about police mental health and suicide. A difficult topic, but in need of airing given awful, recent events. You hear the first 10-minute taster here - audioboom.com/posts/876396...

Just realised - I "work" for myself so after a busy morning of reading, writing, researching and emailing, my boss has awarded me the afternoon "off" as an early swerve to my "annual leave" and holiday on Monday. Camping in Cornwall, if you really must know ... later.

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATHS REPORT - This is a longer document than most and it's not really about policing: it's about mental health beds. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

PhD work ongoing - more MH related police contact deaths (PCDs) after four cases, found inc. three completed inquests and one more pending, which I'll monitor. The database now stands at 232 MH-PCDs, 115 of which have a PFD (49.5%) and 19 inquests pending so more PFDs likely.

NEW BLOG - “The Man on the Tube” Short response to last week’s incident on the London Underground. An. Investigation has been launched so it doesn’t say too much. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/08/13/t...

GREAT NEWS! — I’ve been invited to become an Associate Lecturer in Criminology at @worcesteruni.bsky.social. After starting a PhD, it’s another step towards what I really want to do - and at my local university, in my home county and with good people. CAN’T WAIT!

A mental health patient previously convicted of attempted murder and detained under a restricted hospital order is further convicted of grievous bodily harm with intent after an attack on another patient - www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/2537661...

Two New South Wales police officers who punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed a naked woman experiencing a mental health episode will spend the next three years behind bars. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

“The Force can’t identify how often it uses section 136 of how long detainees spend in custody while waiting for an MHA assessment or transfer to a mental health bed or health-based Place of Safety.” The Metropolitan Police. s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets-hmicf...

NEW BLOG - “Hitting the PFD Target”. Some PFD notices raise issues for one more than one agency but are not sent to all of them. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/08/06/h...

NEW PREVENTING FUTURE DEATHS REPORT - An inquest in April this year found Brian Ringrose was unlawfully killed in 2021 and HM Coroner has this week issued a PFD notice to the police and the NHS. www.judiciary.uk/prevention-o...

Nurses punched in the face at Swindon hospital violent children's unit* - It's a children's unit which experiences violence, that's obviously not the name of it! Sounds like a difficult situation with a local CAMHS unit closed. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Progress of the Mental Health Bill 2024/25 - A document from the UK Parliament, summarising progress so far ahead of the @houseofcommons.parliament.uk Third Reading. "Approved Mental Health Practitioner" klaxon ahead of p47. researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CB...

Reprimand over 999 call before Costessey killings* Man rings 999, "I've got a knife and I've lost the plot" and the advice was to ring 111. Call handler states they didn't hear the word knife. *The term "family deaths" feels inadequate. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

NEW BLOG - "IOPC Contact Deaths Report" New publication from @policeconduct.bsky.social for 2024/25. I've done a quick post, as I have a few frustrations with it, having read it through once. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/i...

Here's today's press release from the IOPC welcoming Right Care, Right Person - ▶️ tiny.cc/nvjq001 Here's their annual report on police contact deaths which fails to mention RCRP at all. ▶️ tiny.cc/lvjq001 17 inquests, 6 pending and 15 PFD notices - so far.

NEW BLOG - "IOPC Contact Deaths Report" New publication from @policeconduct.bsky.social for 2024/25. I've done a quick post, as I have a few frustrations with it, having read it through once. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/i...

NEW BLOG - "James Farley" Successful judicial review by the family of a man who died following police contact concerning a Coroner's decision not to hold an Article 2 inquest with a jury. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/j...

NEW BLOG - "James Farley" Successful judicial review by the family of a man who died following police contact concerning a Coroner's decision not to hold an Article 2 inquest with a jury. mentalhealthcop.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/j...

Recent high-court ruling after judicial review proceedings were brought by the relative of a man who died after police contact. It quashes the decision of an HM Assistant Coroner not to hold an "article 2" inquest or involved a jury. www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWH...

Last time I wondered in a blog how soon this sort of thing could happen again, it was happening as I wrote the post (Leon Briggs and Terry Smith). So I hope they got cracking first thing - lots to do it would seem given a more informed approach to an incident may be needed later this evening.