Fed chair voices concerns about criminal justice system

26 January 2024

West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke has voiced his concerns about the way the criminal justice system deals with people with mental health issues who commit crimes.

Rich said the system ‘often shies away’ from taking suspects with mental health issues to court - including cases where they are a potential danger to themselves or others.

He said: "My criticism of policing throughout my career, and I’ve been in the job 24 years, is that very often when the issue of someone having a mental illness is raised, we often shy away from taking the matter to court.

“I think that includes some cases where the suspect is sometimes is dangerous or displays signs of danger.

“The court is the place which holds the powers to deal with them.”

Branch chair Rich Cooke.

Rich added: “Early in my career I was assaulted quite badly with a knife by a person suffering a mental health episode.

“They were arrested and it was decided to treat them for their mental health.

“They were sectioned, and for 30 days they were in secure detention being treated, but after that they were out and the criminal matter, the matter that may well have killed me, was never dealt with.

“I think that’s been repeated throughout my career.

“That’s not through bad intentions, that’s through good intentions to try to help the person, but first and foremost we have to deal with that risk and manage that risk.

“It’s the courts that have those powers and we’re not using them.”

Rich was speaking on the Channel 4 News following the conviction at Nottingham Crown Court of Valdo Calocane, who killed university students Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Barnaby Webber, and school caretaker Ian Coates.

Calocane admitted three counts of manslaughter and three of attempted murder.

The court was told Calocane had been detained four times under mental health laws, but had no previous convictions or cautions despite being involved in incidents of criminal damage and trying to force his way into flats.

Rich said: “Three totally innocent lives lost. It’s absolutely awful. My heart goes out to the families.”

During the interview, Rich voiced his concerns over policies designed to change the way emergency services respond to calls involving issues with mental health.

He said: “Someone has got to judge where the serious risk to life happens and when should the police go.

“Someone has got to make that decision and no case is the same.

“There’s always nuance and that is my fear with these sorts of policies, is that we lose the assessment of cases on the merits of that case.”

Watch Rich’s interview on Channel 4 News again by clicking here.