Questions and Issues for Policing

There are significant issues relating to the sustainability of the current policing approach around mental health distress, given the growing demand it is placing on resources, alongside other areas of growing demand for policing.

The Authority formally started a conversation with police and partners back in 2022 to try to establish ways in which the individual agencies making up the response could work together more effectively on this issue of high public interest.

Opportunity Cost

The police service has many responsibilities and priorities beyond response and safeguarding activity. The public expects the police to prevent and reduce crime, carry out community policing and patrols, deal with road traffic incidents, tackle serious and organised crime and terrorism, protect vulnerable adults and children in the context of violence and sexual offending and abuse, as well as protect the public from online cyber threats such as fraud and scams.

There is an opportunity cost at play: time spent carrying out x will be at the expense of time spent carrying out y. The statutory responsibilities of the police service in Scotland is purposefully broad, as are the strategic priorities for policing. Conversations that reach agreement and result in action are required.

Boundaries between services

Much of the discussion among the police and partners concerns the boundaries between organisations and the services they provide. Many questions are being generated. Can these boundaries between services be made clearer or better defined? Does the public understand where the duties and responsibilities between services begin and end, and what do they need to know? Do the agencies involved understand and honour these boundaries? Are there resource pressures at the boundaries that are impeding service delivery? Are the right resources in place, or are others standing in to fill gaps and cracks in provision and expertise and immediate assistance? Does resource availability align to demand, so that the right care and support is availability to the people who most need it at the right time and in the right place, and accessible in the right way? Can the answers to these questions be evidenced to support cases for change? What does the public think about the current set up?

Handovers

The police service is arguably the right point of initial contact for concerned members of the public at present. Initial contact in times of emergency need to be kept simple and do not require complication.

The police will continue to provide that quick response on a 24-7-365 basis, based on initial triage, and assess circumstances and risk quickly and professionally at the scene where required. But at what point can the police safely handover a person’s care and support to another agency with more expertise and specialist resources? So that that they are free to help somebody else, or continue investigations that they’re working on, or be available to carry out patrols in communities. Right now the default line is that the police stay and wait for another agency to become available, but this availability is uncertain and can take many hours.