EXCLUSIVE: West Yorkshire Police dealing with growing number of mental health incidents

The union representing West Yorkshire's police officers is warning they're being taken away from fighting crime for hours every day - to deal with people suffering a mental health problem.

Our exclusive figures reveal the force dealt with 15,662 incidents last year which were recorded as being related to mental health - working out at 43 incidents per day.

That figure has risen by a third since 2014, although the force says the increase is most likely down to improved recording and awareness.

West Yorkshire's Police Federation is warning these types of incidents can take officers off the streets for hours at a time, giving them less time to deal with traditional crimes.

"I'm sure (the figure) is actually far, far higher than that when you look at how it's being recorded," says Nick Smart, the Federation's Chair.

"And when you look at how many of those are arrested under the mental health act, it's less than 10 per cent. So more than 90 percent of our interactions are where we deal with somebody and have to take them to a place of safety or another agency, they're not arrested. It has a massive impact on our policing duties.

"It is time consuming for officers, massively so. You're dealing with a human being who may be emotionally distressed. It's only right and proper that they get the suitable assessment and care, but that could take hours and hours and hours. We know the NHS is under huge pressure. But to have us tied up to such an extent does really impede our ability to deliver on other areas."

The Federation is concerned the force is increasingly having to pick up the pieces of an overstretched health service. Nick claims officers sometimes have to spend hours passing somebody over to the most suitable agency because of high demand or low staffing levels at that service.

"Often partner agencies don't have the resources, and we are the coverall for every other emergency and public service when their budgets sink and stuff have to sink through their gaps," he told Radio Aire.

"We're the sponge at the bottom that has to soak it up. Because we're the only service that can't say no, and they know that."

Nick says officers sometimes deal with the same people repeatedly, who he thinks may not have come into contact with the police if the appropriate care had been given to them in the first place.

"There is a cost implication to having somebody as an inpatient or diagnosing them a certain way," he says.

"But we know from picking these individuals up constantly that there is an issue. Cops do get extremely frustrated when they do their level best to look after these people and pass them onto another agency who don't always, we feel, give them the service that's desired."

The force says Mental Health Triage services have been introduced in four of the county's five policing districts, with a pilot due to start in the fifth. This involves a team of mental health professionals working with police to respond to incidents and help assess the level of support somebody needs.

In Leeds, this is run by the Leeds and York NHS Partnership Trust, which told Radio Aire it has a strong relationship with the police.

Judith Barnes is Clinical Operations Manager for the Crisis Assessment Unit there, which is based at the Becklin Centre:

"(Our street triage team) is available seven days a week, 24 hours. We always have a couple of staff who provide that provision. We can attend the scene and offer advice and support.

“We've got about 200 referrals a month for our street triage and it is a challenge to meet that demand. I would say that sometimes what the police deem as a mental health issue isn't always a mental health issue. It might be that somebody is just intoxicated. But it is difficult for the police to know what is a core mental health problem.”

The Becklin Centre also has a Section 136 suite, which the police can bring somebody to if they need to take them to a place of safety.

"We extended the suite to four rooms from two rooms and that means that we are able to release the police a lot quicker than we were able to before,” says Judith. “I think the police have said they've noticed a big change in Leeds.

"We all see some people on a frequent basis and there's specific work that's happening in the last six months to look at those people, in order that people don't present in our services or to the police as often as they are doing."

In a statement, Assistant Chief Constable Russ Foster, said: "West Yorkshire Police fully support the Crisis Care Concordat signed in 2014, which commits organisations including the police and NHS to work together to improve crisis care.

"The West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, also chairs a Criminal Justice and Mental Health Forum which seeks to ensure the best service user experience and outcomes for those experiencing a mental health crisis.

"We have reduced the use of police cells for people solely experiencing mental health crisis by 48 per cent between 2015 and 2016.

"West Yorkshire Police will continue to work with partners to make further improvements in the response to mental health crisis."

• nick smart