I spent a large part of this afternoon grinning like a drain, I will be honest.  Two of my finest officers took a trip down to the Magistrates’ Court this morning in order to give evidence in a summary trial.  They ended up coming back victorious, not having had to give any evidence at all […]

It has been said more than once that the police need to learn de-escalation techniques when dealing with people experiencing a mental health crisis.  We know about the risks involved in restraint and of course we hope to avoid them.  We also know, that when the police do resort to the use of force – […]

There was a point in my journey into policing, mental health and criminal justice where ongoing debates about biology, psychology and sociology were just of passing interest.  They seemed a touch too abstract to be of particular importance and somewhat detached from the realities of whether officers should detain someone under s136 MHA or whether […]