Lunatic roaming East Dulwich road

[DaveR]

Just to be clear, the police have a specific power under the Mental Health Act to remove someone from a public place to a place of safety if it appears that they need immediate treatment or care. Where a person may be a danger to others or themselves calling the police is the right thing to do; they are better equipped to deal with the situation than anyone else.

[DJKillaQueen]

Spot on Dave. Beyond that, those qualified to assess the mental health of this man would decide if he poses enough of a danger to himself or to others to require sectioning. If it is the same man and he has been released then clesrly the medical opinion thinks otherwise.

There are many conditions where people behave in a way that could frighten others. We've lived in a world where we locked up all sufferers of mental health conditions and it didn't work and at best was cruel. Now we have care in the community and for the most part, that works better. Whilst tragic cases like the one described above, happen from time to time, the vast majority of msnslaughter/ murder and violent assault is perpetrated by people under no mental health treatment. And whilst that doesn't make the rare times that things go wrong ok, it also doesn't justify locking up people because they of what they might do.

[Mands]

To be honest i dont think the police do much. Last year i was being stalked by a guy that had mental health issues. I had never met the guy in my life but he had it in his head that his 2 children were living in my flat. I do not have any children. He was constantly knocking on my front door (i didnt open it) and had to call the police. they informed me that he had mental health issues and moved him on. After that i lost count at the number of times we was putting food through my door etc saying it was to feed his children. The police didnt take it seriously or do anything about it despite me having to call them on numerous occasions. The final straw was when he broke into my flat 8 floors up via the staircase and climbing along the balconies. He could have very easily fallen and killed himself. Thankfully i wasnt at home but i didnt feel safe in my own home after that. All the police did was issue me with one of those personal alarms and put a warrant out for his arrest.As far as i am aware they didnt catch him. earlier this year i moved to ED area and thankfully that was the last i saw/heard of him. I have to say the police dealing with the whole situation was very poor. I never felt safe :0(

[uncleglen]

They are probably scared stiff of taking any of these people off the street because several people have died in police custody under the same circumstances ie mental health problems. The police tread a fine line and there are many who just go for the jugular- and at the same time they want protection- the cops, unfortunately, are damned if they do and damned if they don't!