'Mental Health and Policing: It’s time to talk about it'

In the wake of the high profile inquest verdict of Sean Rigg earlier this year, Black Mental Health UK is holding a public event on Wednesday 12th December entitled: ‘Mental Health and Policing: It’s time to talk about it’.

Rigg was an African Caribbean musician who died in 2008 while in the care of the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (SLAM), just an hour after he was picked up by the police. The inquest verdict into his death was highly critical of both SLAM and the Police and concluded that their actions had more than minimally contributed to his death.

The event which is sponsored by the SLAM will look at the changes which have been made by both the Police and mental health services since Rigg’s death in order to ensure that such tragedies do not occur again. These changes are particularly relevant to BME communities as figures from 2005 -2010 reveal that the detention rates for people from the UK’s African Caribbean community has doubled.

The free event will focus on key issues such as mental health and policing protocols - what happens when people are unwell and how do mental health services and police respond to them. It will also examine the important issue of care – are the right level and kind of medication be administered?

Matilda MacAttram Director of Black Mental Health UK said:

The latest figures on deaths in custody show that 60% of people who lose their lives while in the care of the state are mental health service users. It is people from Britain's African Caribbean communities who are detained in the system in greatest numbers. The findings from the Sean Rigg inquest have brought to light the very harsh treatment they receive from both the police and mental health services. This event is an opportunity to find out what changes have been made since the Sean Rigg Inquest verdict to ensure that we do not see any more deaths in custody.'

‘Mental Health and Policing: It’s time to talk about it’ will take place from 5pm – 7.00pm on Wednesday 12 December at the Maple Room, Fairfields Halls, Croydon CR9 1DG. To register your attendance email: events@blackmentalhealth.org.uk or you are welcome to turn up on the day.

Francine Fernandes