Janice R. Andrews
Following the sad event in Costessey that resulted in the death of a father and his two daughters, the police are reassessing the execution of a controversial plan that may change how they respond to specific 999 mental health calls.
The “Right Person, Right Care” programme is scheduled to be progressively implemented throughout Norfolk the following month. The initiative attempts to divert calls relating to mental health problems from the police to more suitable services, hence reducing the police’s involvement in such situations. But given what has happened recently, the implementation of this plan is currently “under review.”
After a 999 call at Allan Bedford Crescent in Queen’s Hills at around 7:15 am on Friday, the bodies of Bartlomiej Kuczynski, 45, and his two daughters, Jasmin, 12, and Natasha, 9, together with his sister-in-law Kanticha Sukpengpanao, 36, were found.
Interestingly, police were not dispatched in response to Mr. Kuczynski’s earlier 999 call, which he made an hour prior to the incident, citing concerns about his mental health. Rather, he was counselled to seek medical attention; the Independent Office for Police Conduct is currently looking into this decision.
In partnership with healthcare organisations, the Right Person, Right Care campaign seeks to offer immediate mental health assistance without using the police. The police would still react, nevertheless, to calls involving grave danger or threats of death.
Control room call handlers would benefit from a “triage tool” to help them consistently make decisions that are in line with the police’s duty of care. Since its initial implementation by Humberside Police in 2019, the programme has been embraced by other law enforcement agencies, such as Suffolk and the Metropolitan Police.
The unfortunate Costessey case has drawn criticism from some quarters, notably Mark Harrison, Chairman of the Campaign to Save Mental Health Services in Norfolk and Suffolk, who notes that the case happened prior to the full implementation of the Right Care, Right Person project. Harrison worries that the new regulation might make these situations worse.
In Norfolk, people with mental health concerns are involved in one in five 999 and 101 contacts to the police. The goal of the assessment is to make sure that any policy changes strike the correct balance between upholding public safety and offering the proper kind of mental health support.
