A police chief says some 999 calls in Staffordshire will no longer be attended if it is felt an officer is not the most appropriate person to respond.
The new ‘Right Care Right Person’ policy will be launched in February 2024 and will instead see some calls handed over to other organisations, such as hospitals and local councils.
Staffordshire Police says such organisations are better equipped to deal with incidents involving mental health than its officers.
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison said call handlers would undertake extra training to make sure incidents are dealt with properly.
“The planning and the training is underway to make sure we launch it in the right way.
“This week there is a national launch across policing in England and Wales, based on the findings of some pilot forces – Humberside and Lancashire amongst others – who’ve trialled it and found it’s been very effective.
“Right Care Right Person is about us working with other partners to divert calls to the appropriate agency to make sure someone who might be in a vulnerable state, due to mental health or other issues, gets a suitably trained practitioner in the right time to support them – rather than a police officer turning out routinely, which is what we have been doing.
“It’s about making sure we work with partners to make sure we support the caller in the appropriate way.”
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison
Mr Ellison confirmed the force would always respond if it felt there was a danger to life.
“It’s about providing the right support and making sure police officers are free to do what the public would expect police officers to do.
“What I would say to reassure people is that we will make absolutely sure that where there is an immediate threat to life, we will be responding.”
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison
The force will now liaise with West Midlands Ambulance Service and local health trusts to introduce the new policy.
Mr Ellison said the change was not about reducing demand on the police, but about making sure officers aren’t spending time on calls where they’re not the most suitable people for the job.
“We want to ensure the right person does respond, so we can provide the support the vulnerable person at the end of the call actually needs.”
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison
“I’ve got some sympathy”
Currently, officers are routinely asked to deal with concerns for welfare and mental health as well as provide transport on behalf of hospitals.
The force says that while up to 1,000 calls are received each day, only around 20% are considered to be genuine emergencies.
Mr Ellison said:
“That’s not to say some of the 80% of other calls don’t require an emergency response – some of them do – but there’s a big percentage of our 999 calls that come in that are actually not for the police.
“I’ve got some sympathy, I understand that in a time of crisis people want to dial 999 and ask for the police because they feel they need some support, but that doesn’t mean that support is most appropriately delivered by the police.
“There is an issue about the public understanding that they might be asking for the police but the appeal would be for people to understand the police might not be the right agency to provide the support they need.
“We’ll continue to take the call and continue to risk assess it, and if it’s appropriate for a partner agency to go then we’ll be making that contact to divert to a partner agency.”
Assistant Chief Constable Stuart Ellison