A scheme has started to ensure people with mental health issues in the West Midlands are kept out of custody and receive the right treatment.
The Street Triage scheme will see mental health nurses and paramedics join police on callouts where people need immediate mental health support.
Mental health bosses say people in urgent need of mental health care during emergencies will benefit. The pilot follows in the footsteps of similar schemes across the country.
by: Mikey Powell Campaign
published: 31 October 2013
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) have upheld an appeal by Claris Powell, the mother of Mikey Powell, that the West Midlands Police Chief Constable’s report to the West Midlands Police Authority (WMPA) on 25 March 2010 entitled “The Organisational Response to the Death of Michael Powell and Linda Burt” was misleading.
The Powell family maintained that the report was misleading about the findings of the 2009 Inquest jury ruling in relation to when and where Mikey died.
In December 2010 the Powell family solicitors made a series of complaints on behalf of Mikey Powell’s mother, Claris Powell.
by: The Sunday Post
published: 27 October 2013
4WardEver’s Tippa Naphtali speaks out to Sunday Post.
A furious row has broken out over the use of police stun guns on children. Official guidelines warn of potentially fatal consequences if youths are hit by the 50,000-volt Taser devices. But despite this, their use in confrontations with under-18s has rocketed by 1,000% over five years.
Figures show police used the weapons on just 29 occasions in 2007 but that shot up to 323 in 2011, an average of six times a week.
This included firing them outright and doing “drive stuns” in which the device is placed against a youth’s body and fired without causing incapacitation.
Justice campaigners said the soaring use of Tasers on children was a major concern. However police defended their actions.
