Do police officers receive sufficient training in mental health? A front line perspective of police officers attitudes and beliefs on attending mental health calls

There is a scarcity of research in the United Kingdom on mental health and policing with most being done by the same researcher Ian Cummins since the 21st Century. Police officers are dealing with an increase of mental health calls and it has been documented in literature that it is a core part of their jobs (Corlett, 2013; Pettitt et al., 2013). It has also been found that police officers need to be better equipped with more training to provide effective support to those suffering from a mental health issue (Edmundson and Cummings, 2014; Thomas and Watson; 2017). Despite the studies which have been conducted for mental health and policing, little has changed over the years since Lord Bradley’s review in 2009 and Lord Bailey’s review in 2010. Moreover, literature only shows that it is a growing concern for the police service in the United Kingdom rather than, explain what can be used to help increase the effectiveness of police officers supporting individuals with mental health issues. This thesis examines ‘do police officers receive sufficient training in mental health?’ and explores how police officers feel with attending mental health calls.

The main themes generated from the results were: police officers did not feel they should be dealing with mental health calls, the calls are frequent, their training for mental health was not good enough, outside services needs to be more co-ordinated and support structures and processes are beneficial. By analysing the themes and sub themes from the study, the recommendations consist of: more effective mental health training for police officers, better organisational skills of delivering mental health training and more effective working relationships between outside agencies and the police service.