Earlier this month, the prosecution of a defendant under new legislation specific to emergency services personal was was abandoned as “not in the public interest” after a a man had been charged with spitting at a police officer. The headline in the Daily Telegraph did a cracking job of conveying vagueness about the reasons behind […]

A story about the difficulties of de-escalation – With two other officers, I once had to try to urgently ‘de-escalate’ a situation involving a suicidal man – most of us have had to do this at one stage and I’ve done it more than once. All the other efforts, thankfully, were successful, but this one […]

When I started proper work on the subject of policing and mental health, I had not the first clue where to start – there was no course you could ask to go on.  I came to this agenda originally precisely because of my professional ignorance, but also my uncertainty and my fear – there was […]