Chair Mel Warnes on the pressure on Surrey Police officers

19 May 2017

More remains to be done to help take the pressure off Surrey Police officers who find themselves responsible for people in crisis, the force’s Federation has said.

Mel Warnes was speaking after the issue arose at this year’s Police Federation of England and Wales Annual Conference.

Officers in Surrey are waiting for up to, and sometimes longer than five hours at a time for an ambulance when they are detained under Section 136 of the Mental Health Act, Mel said.

She added: “Investment in mental health is about much more than not having mental health patients in the custody block. We are still seeing our officers waiting for up to five and a half hours for an ambulance to attend for a person that we’ve sectioned under 136. It’s just not good enough.

“We are waiting for that amount of time and then end up taking them to hospital ourselves anyway because we’re cancelling the ambulance - therefore it’s not showing up on the ambulance figures that they haven’t attended. It is a really big issue.”

The issue of demand repeatedly came under the spotlight at the meeting in Birmingham.

Steve White, Chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, told the Home Secretary: “We cannot do it all. So let’s make the changes needed. We either invest or we divest. Put more resources in or take demand out. They are the only options.”

But Amber Rudd would not promise any extra funding for forces if the Tory Party win the election, saying only budgets were “protected” and therefore no further cuts would be made.

However, the Home Secretary did offer some hope with her support of spit guards. When asked by a delegate: “Do you understand what spit guards are, do you understand why we need them and do you support them?” she answered simply, ”Yes, yes and yes".

Ms Rudd also agreed to visit forces should she remain Home Secretary after it emerged her understanding of demand did not match up to the reality of a service in crisis - as spelled out by delegates.

Mel added: “It is really encouraging to see the Home Secretary committing to certain aspects should she be elected. She’s really supportive of the spit guards, which is encouraging for us. And she committed to looking around forces and seeing an unaltered view of things – if she remains in post - rather than the polished version she might have been shown in the past. We are very positive about that.”