Agenda item

Detective Chief Inspector Rich Tompkins, within Public Protection, Northants Police, addressed the Scrutiny Panel.  He gave background details to his role and the service.

The Scrutiny Panel made comment, asked questions and heard:

·         Rough sleepers with suspected mental health problems are not always accessing the required services

·         Prevention is key.  The Police often come across individuals when they are at crisis point and they may then present differently to professionals when they are free from the effects of drugs or alcohol.  

·         Around half the calls Northants Police respond to do not involve a  crime but are concerns for public welfare and safety. There are around 120 documented calls a week regarding mental health issues, although the impact of mental health is suspected to be far higher than this. It is not unusual for calls to be received from individuals in crisis themselves, carers or organisations such as the Samaritans. The Local Authority provides an approved Mental Health practitioner (AHMP) Worker, 24/7. However this individual has other responsibilities and out of hours calls can take several hours before being responded to. It is common for Police to stay and monitor persons they detain under the mental health act for many hours where there is no Social Worker or nurse to take ownership for the case. This has been recognised in a new national HMICFRS report on the impact of Police responding to Mental Health  

·         There are a number of effective multi-agency groups coordinating mental health and suicide Prevention – the latter being a new county wide group that is viewed as positive

·         Early intervention at all levels prevents crisis – and is seen as positive by Police. It can negate persons becoming criminalised and reduces the harm (physical and emotional) associated with crisis intervention

·         Partnership working is generally strong in the county. Northants Police have appointed a Superintendent to lead on work associated with the future provision of services and the proposed 2 new local authorities model, replacing the current district and borough approach.   

·         MARAC provides effective support for Domestic abuse victims, and has around 1,200 cases a year.  Adult Social Services joined MARAC around 12 months ago which was welcome.

·         The pressures that Adult Social Services are under are acknowledged by the Police.

·         Police budgets have faced considerable pressure over the last 8 years. Nationally there are 20,000 less officers now than in 2010. Recorded violent crime is increasing for the first time in 10 years; Northants Police budgets and staffing reflect the national picture.  

·         Concerns remain over the future provision of funding to support services. An example is the Sunflower Centre (who support High risk victims of domestic abuse) who work closely with the Police. A third of their budget emanates from the County council. When NCC didn’t pay the contribution for 2018/19 they lost 3 highly trained staff. Funding has been restored by NCC but uncertainty remains and the service provided by the sunflower has had to reduce over the last 6 months – this negatively impacts on vulnerable, high risk victims and provides a further challenge for the police.  

Detective Chief Inspector Rich Tompkins was thanked for his address.

AGREED:              That the information provided informs the evidence base of this Scrutiny Review.