Understanding Mental Health Demand within Lancashire Constabulary

Abstract

Identifying and measuring mental health demand within policing has become an important
issue in the debate around resources and an effective policing response. This report aims to
provide a transparent examination as to the levels of mental health demand within the
Lancashire Constabulary during 2018.

The identification of mental health demand continues to be fraught with difficulty,
largely because the data on which cases relate to mental health illness is not readily available
(Adebowale, 2013). One of the main reasons for the lack of data is because the concept
covers such a broad range of human experiences (Cummins & Edmonson, 2015). Whilst a
national definition for police mental health demand is nearing formation, this is currently
extremely broad:
“Any incident involving those of us with mental health problems where that
vulnerability is at the centre of the incident or where the police have had to do something
additionally or differently.”
(Email: Chief Inspection Michael Brown (NPCC Mental Health Coordinator), 2018).

Consequently, key words to use in a search for mental health cases are diverse. Furthermore,
policing demand can range from a call taker providing advice and welfare checks, to a police
officer responding to aggressive and volatile behaviour involving drugs and alcohol
(Angiolini, 2017). Arguably, this leaves the police with a unique role of deciding which
individuals with mental health problems are processed through the healthcare system or are
dealt with through the criminal justice system (Senior et al., 2014).

Previous research into police mental health demand has shown a variety of figures.
Within London, the Metropolitan Police Service examined approximately 4 million calls
between September 2011 and August 2012 and found that 1.5% (n = 60,306) were flagged as
being mental health (Stanko, 2012; in Adebowale, 2013). Greater Manchester Police
examined mental health demand using an algorithm developed by Manchester Metropolitan
University. Their research found that there was a total 10% of cases, which was an increase
on the 2% recorded by police staff (Ellison et al., 2018). Within the Lancashire Constabulary,
previous research also examined mental health demand using a key word search function
(Kirby et al., 2017; Crorken, 2017). This found that mental health demand made up
approximately 8% of all incidents that had officer deployment (Grade 1-3 response).
However, what is unclear within the previous studies is what exactly was searched for in
determining ‘mental health incidents’. Therefore, the current report provides and overview of
the context of mental health within the Lancashire Constabulary, before conducting a
transparent search of mental health demand