In these last few weeks, I’ve been getting to talk more about police approaches to mental health incidents with a wide variety of people. Far more than once I’ve found myself being asked about street triage and how we can reduce the usage of section 136 MHA. It seems in the minds of many, that […]

So here’s a knotty one – on the subject of police training.  We know that the police need (more) mental health awareness training because Lord ADEBOWALE told us so in a report with recommendations that were accepted after publication. So it gives rise to a list of questions – How long should the course be? […]

NB: on 2nd June 2026, the UK Supreme Court issued a new judgment in the “AGoNI Reference” which sets aside Cheshire West with immediate effect and re-determines what a “deprivation of liberty” is, for the purposes of British domestics laws. This article is therefore no longer reflective of current law. I once gave a talk […]