A Return to Mental Health and the Police-New Learning from Innovation

Mental health is a core facet of policing demand, something that shows no indication of change-officers are often the first port of call and consequently can play an important role within enabling subsequent interventions. Historically, there has been a documented disjoin between the police and an effective mental ill-health response, evidenced by a number of high profile cases and reviews (i.e. Bradley or the Adebowale review). Such reviews set out a strong marker of where the police were in terms of understanding and responding to mental health. A number of years have passed since these reviews and a variety of innovations have been developed as a response. This article offers a reflection upon two such innovations (London Street Triage and Mental Health Awareness and Safeguarding Training Training both of which were implemented in London and supported by evaluation.