advice needed

carolan78

itsanne wrote: »

In our experience the police have almost always actually been very good.

We've had experience of Mental Health taking too long to react (it can depend on whether any order is currently in place), and depending on the situation they can rely on the police anyway.

In a crisis, where someone is violent, the police will be needed.

This is our experience with the mental health team. The last bad episode he had been let out of hospital far too soon and we could see him deteriorating day by day and kept on at the mental health team to do something before it ended up in another full blown psychosis. Even though he was still under a section at the time they ignored us and didn't even visit, 3 days later we had to call the police and ambulance to get him back to hospital for his own safety.

meritaten

its horrifying isn't it how mental health is NOT served in this country?
you get different police forces with different attitudes and the mental health care is generally 'abysmal'.
however, the law on assault is usually clear enough. mental health issues shouldn't come into it except when sentencing.

Missme

There is no such thing as a 'family/domestic' situation in law. If this were the 70s then that would have been the reason not to help 'battered wives'. Those days are over.

If you are prepared for your son to face the full weight of the law by reporting him, then the police should investigate as they would any other reported crime.

I can't imagine how tough this must be for you.

Bennifred

I know that the local police get extremely frustrated by the lack of mental health team support availability. Too many people with mental health problems have to be held in police custody for their own protection because there are too few emergency beds available and the mental health teams are too slow to make them available.

ziptia

I phoned the mental health team and they said if my 23 year old son phones them they will assess him otherwise they cant do anything. I do not know where my son has gone and cant get hold of him. even if I did know where he was there is no way he would contact the team himself. his girlfriend has just phoned me to say she phoned the police aswell as he was in her house yesterday morning stabbing her tumble dryer with a knife so she told him to leave that is why my husband was telephoned to collect my son from there. we are in a desperate situation here as his girlfrend has 2 young children and is pregnant and I have 5 children living here.

Yorkie1

I'm sorry to hear all of this. What on earth are the police waiting for? Till he uses the knife or glass on someone?

I know that this is not your primary focus at the moment while your son is unaccounted for, but I really would consider taking this higher within the police, if need be to their Professional Complaints Department.

It may be that the CPS decides that it is not in the public interest to prosecute your son because of his mental health, but it may be that the incidents are so serious that, for example, prosecution is needed to protect your family and others. However, that is NOT for the police to pre-judge.

As for familial abuse, which this is, as I said before it is not something which should be swept under the carpet. It's akin to teenage relationship abuse which the CPS is committed to dealing with properly:
http://blog.cps.gov.uk/2013/02/dpp-lends-support-to-governments-teenage-relationship-abuse-campaign.html

itsanne

ziptia wrote: »

I phoned the mental health team and they said if my 23 year old son phones them they will assess him otherwise they cant do anything. I do not know where my son has gone and cant get hold of him. even if I did know where he was there is no way he would contact the team himself. his girlfriend has just phoned me to say she phoned the police aswell as he was in her house yesterday morning stabbing her tumble dryer with a knife so she told him to leave that is why my husband was telephoned to collect my son from there. we are in a desperate situation here as his girlfrend has 2 young children and is pregnant and I have 5 children living here.

That's where Kafka comes in. If he's well enough to know he needs help, he doesn't need it as much as if he refuses to accept there's a problem. You know that. They must know that too. Been there :cool:.

It's also why you need to put everything in writing. As soon as there's a paper trail the "authorities" are much more aware of their culpability should anything happen. We found that was the only way to get things moving.

Person_one

ziptia wrote: »

I phoned the mental health team and they said if my 23 year old son phones them they will assess him otherwise they cant do anything. I do not know where my son has gone and cant get hold of him. even if I did know where he was there is no way he would contact the team himself. his girlfriend has just phoned me to say she phoned the police aswell as he was in her house yesterday morning stabbing her tumble dryer with a knife so she told him to leave that is why my husband was telephoned to collect my son from there. we are in a desperate situation here as his girlfrend has 2 young children and is pregnant and I have 5 children living here.

Tell the girlfriend to phone the police in her own right, if she hasn't already, most people would have done.