Painting the Forth Bridge

Mental health stuff in policing is not my job any more – not really. I’m still asked to offer advice or opinion from time to time and most of the other inspectors on my team have used the phone-a-friend service which is inherently on offer when I’m on duty! I’ve reviewed some incidents and policies […]

Looking Beyond Distress

No-one involved in the discussions and debates around mental health care provision can have failed at one point or another to have bumped up against the question of whether we have enough psychiatric inpatient beds for the country’s needs. There are loads of reasons to wonder about this and plenty of time has been spent […]

Playing Mental Health Cards

On New Year’s Eve 2018, a man seriously assaulted a number of people at Manchester Victoria railway station – including one of the police officers who arrested him shortly after the attack began. I remember blogging about the incident, frustrated at the immediate calls for his extra-judicial murder and frustrated that many suggested that he’d […]