Mental health leaders say among other issues strategy risks excluding people with protected characteristics
Mental health leaders have expressed their concern at what will happen if the Metropolitan police chief follows through on his threat to stop officers attending mental health calls from September.
They warned “overzealous” 999 call handlers could end up refusing to dispatch officers to incidents where they are needed to protect the public “due to poor knowledge … of the nuances of the law”.
People with protected characteristics under the Equalities Act being excluded from receiving the same level of support as others.
Situations in which relevant organisations are present or involved already, but concurrently police support also being needed and not provided.
Situations that meet the threshold for police attendance but it being declined due to poor knowledge by call agents of the nuances of the law, agreements and duties or overzealous application of the strategy.
