Like most things from HMG they trumpet investment numbers but little of planning and time frames. I doubt the front line will notice any difference in the foreseeable future.

Will this mean less concern for welfare calls to the police with NHS staff picking up the slack? Will it mean more support for suspects with mental health problems? If not then its pointless as both of those situations soak up vast amounts of police time.

I hate the idea of public sectors turning in each other, but more criticism needs to be directed at the MH services. (And social services) Can you imagine if you phoned the police for say a drunk driver, a fight, burglary, disturbances, suspicious behaviour etc etc, and the operator said, ‘sorry, we’re busy, please call the NHS or social services.’ That would understandably be ridiculous, but apparently organisations that jointly employ more than 7 times the number than police, the police lock it up whilst their own demand grows in the background. It’s time that the other services stepped up

**organisations that jointly employ 7 times more people than the police, expect police to pick up their work**