Not Just Points of Pedantry

I took a phone call last week from police force X, seeking advice. A patient who had absconded from a mental health unit in police force X had turned up in a hotel well over 100 miles away in police force Y’s area – he was AWOL under the Mental Health Act 1983 which creates […]

Get Serious

I doubt many police officers reading this will spend much of their time lurking around mental health forums for nurses, AMHPs and others. A few who work in this area do, and of course there’s also an email based MH law forum that includes a lot of legal professionals who specialise in mental health law. […]

Adventures in 136 Land

Imagine this: you’re the police officer attending an incident where, despite your best efforts to do something different, you have no choice but to detain someone under s136 of the Mental Health Act 1983. You considered street triage, you called family and ultimately felt there was no other way, consistent with keeping this person safe […]