Norfolk police officers have called for an “informed open debate” over what the public wants the force to concentrate on amid a dramatic increase in mental health-related call-outs.
The body representing rank-and-file officers in the county said cutbacks in support services for people in crisis had left police to pick up the pieces.
It comes after the new head of the policing inspectorate, Andy Cooke, told MPs that up to 40pc of officers’ time is now taken up on mental health calls.
Norfolk officers saw a 65pc rise in so-called 91 section 135 incidents - which gives them the power to enter a person’s home and take them to a place of safety so an assessment can be carried out - in 2020/21.
The pandemic also saw 632 section 136 incidents, where police have the power to take people to a place of safety, up 20pc.
Andy Symonds, chair of the Norfolk Police Federation, said: “Who else do members of the public call when someone is having a mental health crisis? Most services close at 5pm on weekdays and are not available over the weekend.
“Of course we should be called if a crime is being committed or the person in crisis may cause harm to others or themselves.
"But when we do it means we are left holding the baby until other services become available to take on the responsibility.”
Norfolk chief constable Paul Sanford has stressed that dealing with call-outs surrounding mental health was "nothing new", but said the impact of Covid had been "significant".
Police and crime commissioner Giles Orpen-Smellie recently made more visibility policing a priority of his new Norfolk crime plan.
But he admitted there was a public “expectation gap” as a desire for more officers to be on the beat had to be balanced with “behind closed doors” issues.
Mr Symonds said: “Police officers see the crisis points at the end of the journey and mental health services need investment so that people do not get to that crisis point which needs the police to step in and help.”
The police federation has called for a “public conversation” on what the government and public wants officers to concentrate on.
“Preventing and detecting crimes should always be our bread and butter but with us being so thinly spread we risk losing the confidence of the public in this respect,” said Mr Symonds.
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