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There'sÌýa big story, a big call,Ìýthat'sÌýbeen made by the Metropolitan Police in the UK.

It’s pretty dramatic on the face of it.ÌýThe police chief there has announced that the Metropolitan Police in the UK will no longer attend emergency callsÌýrelated to mental health incidents.Ìý

It'sÌýnot just an advisory;Ìýit'sÌýan order by the chief to their officers not to attend the thousands of calls that police get every year to deal with mental health issues.

There are two essential reasons given.

One is that in sending policeÌýinstead of medical professionals, those in a mental health crisisÌýare being failed,Ìýand not getting the right people toÌýassistÌýthem. And secondly, the failureÌýtoÌýthe public, in general,Ìýand theÌýhuge amount of time that it takes away from the police from the essential duties they have in solving and preventing crime, as well as dealing with the victims of crime.

And one of the stats there,Ìýwhich I imagine is quite comparable toÌýhere, isÌýit takes about 14 hours to deal with the mental health patient and hand them over to people who are better qualified to look after them.

Now, look, itÌýdoesn'tÌýtake much ofÌýaÌýstretch of the imagination to see that this issue hasÌýlikely inevitableÌýparallels with New Zealand.ÌýÌý

IfÌýI had a relative who was having a mental health crisis and needed help, I'm actually not sure where I'd turn, especially in the wee small hours.Ìý

Maybe withÌýthe challenges that we have with law and order, it is time for usÌýtoÌýfollow suit and be a bit moreÌýhard-nosedÌýabout this and make the same call and let the police get on with their job.

And what is their job?ÌýDealing with crime.

LetÌýthem look after dealing with crime, preventingÌýcrimeÌýand dealing with the victimsÌýof crime. Ìý

YouÌýdon'tÌýhave to look too far, of course, to see thatÌýwe’reÌýobviouslyÌýwe'reÌýnot doing well on that. Another $11 million from theÌýGovernment for fog cannon whenÌýit'sÌýnotÌýstopping some people being robbed.Ìý

So is it time for us to make the same call and let the police get on with the job that they're trained for? But then how do we handle our mental health patients?Ìý