The Metropolitan police have said their refusal to routinely go to mental health calls means officers can spend more time at crime scenes, but charities say the policy could endanger lives. Six months ago the Met introduced a scheme called Right Care Right Person , aiming to cut the time officers spent dealing with mental health calls, which it said was diverting the force from fighting crime. Met wins battle with NHS over not attending mental health calls Read more The Met, Britain’s largest police force, says it is now seeing the benefits, with officers getting to robberies 6% quicker than before the scheme, and for all crime types, being able to spend 21% more time at the scene.
A total of 34,000 officer hours a month had been saved from 6,000 fewer deployments to health calls. Det Supt Alastair Vanner, the mental health lead for the Met, said the type of calls officers were not going to included concerns for someone’s welfare because a neighbour had not seen then for some time, or because they had missed an appointment. He said officers would still go if there was a concern about a potential crime.
The Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, had originally wanted to introduce the scheme in September 2023, triggering “fear and animosity” among health organisations, Vanner said. Tense talks led to the deadline being pushed back by two months and the scheme introduced in phases. In return, the health and social care sector agreed to pick up the extra work.
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