It is not the role of the police

to care for the mentally ill or the homeless. Their job is, or should be, much more about law and order and the safety of the population at large.

Apparently the police are being used to try and keep mental health patients under control before they enter emergency departments. The police are now helping ambulance officers do their jobs. It is taking them away from the other jobs they should be doing but this sort of work is deemed "essential" because it involves public safety.

I know what emergency departments in hospitals can be like. I have experienced them in a number of places both here and in England.  They can be chaotic places, especially if there are multiple injuries from an incident like a road traffic accident.  When that occurs those working there on other issues do not need to be distracted by very disturbed mentally ill patients. It is sufficiently difficult to deal with everything from a nail through a finger to a heart attack, a stroke or the suspected serious concussion from the football game. 

My doctor nephew worked for a while in the "walk in" clinic for the mentally ill in the city. Concerned for his own safety he eventually left and other people went as well. They really need police there full time but some people will not go there if there is an obvious police presence. That of course means that some people will delay getting help they know they need. Some of them will then end up in the Emergency Departments in a far worse state.

We closed the hospitals which helped the mentally ill. We put the people who once attended them "back in the community" so now they have nowhere specialist to go. The police cannot take them somewhere like that and hand them into the care of people who are trained to help. There are more and more people taking drugs of one sort or another and they seem to be more freely available than ever. Covid and the resultant lock downs seem to have made the problem, if not worse, at least more visible.

I am wondering if closing the hospitals was such a good idea. Some people with mental illnesses find it impossible to live "in the community" at least at times. The regular hospital emergency departments may be adding to their stress.  Being there under police guard is only likely to make matters worse.