By Chris Green
The volume of mental health-related incidents being attended by police in Scotland is a “systemic crisis” which is preventing officers from doing their jobs, MSPs have heard.
Almost one in five calls to Police Scotland is related to a mental health concern, with such cases requiring the equivalent of almost 500 full-time officers to deal with.
The stark figures emerged as both the First Minister and the Justice Secretary acknowledged that cops are spending too much time in A&E rather than on the front line.
John Swinney said the issue had been raised with him by police both “locally and nationally”, while Neil Gray admitted there was “more to do” to address the problem.
The latest figures on mental health related deployments were set out by Police Scotland in a written submission to Holyrood’s Criminal Justice Committee.
It revealed that during 2025/26, the force received 234,952 mental health-related calls, around 18 per cent of the total.
This resulted in 173,377 deployments, taking up 775,326 policing hours, with the average time taken to deal with a mental health-related incident put at 5.3 hours.
The force calculated that this is equivalent to 481 officers being dedicated to such incidents on a full-time basis each year, at a cost of more than £34 million.
In its submission to MSPs, it warned that the role of policing has “grown beyond… what is financially and operationally sustainable”.
It added that measures put in place to address the issue have had only “a modest impact on a systemic crisis which continues to call for a step change in our collective response”.
It continued: “Police Scotland continues to have a role in addressing vulnerability, whether associated with criminality or where there is an immediate threat to life or risk of serious harm, or involvement of a person under 18.
“Policing’s role has grown beyond what is best for vulnerable people, what is intended in legislation, and what is financially and operationally sustainable”
Police Scotland submission to MSPs
“However, in the absence of other factors… mental ill health or distress is not a policing matter.
“In such cases police attendance is an inappropriate response, and risks stigmatising or criminalising those who need other professional care, and diverts police staff from responding to matters uniquely requiring the skills and expertise of policing.”
The comments echo a warning issued by Chief Constable Jo Farrell earlier this year, when she said the current situation “cannot continue”.
David Kennedy, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation (SPF), said the situation was “deeply concerning”.
He told 1919: “These figures demonstrate the extent to which police officers are being relied upon to fill gaps in mental health and wider public services.
“Police officers do an incredibly challenging job and will always respond when someone is in crisis. However, they are not mental health professionals, and policing cannot be the default response to a systemic crisis.
“This level of demand places additional pressure on an already stretched service, impacts officer wellbeing, and reduces the resources available to respond to other emergencies.
“A step change is required, with proper investment in mental health services and a genuinely effective, multi-agency response. We need the right care for the right person.
“The current position is not sustainable for officers, the police service, or the people who need specialist support.”
In an interview with 1919 after becoming Justice Secretary, Gray promised to cut the time wasted by police officers in A&E departments through earlier health interventions.
Asked about the issue again in October, he told MSPs that “the current situation is not what we want it to be”.
He added: “We are talking about uniformed officers responding to people in distress. That is not what the individuals affected want, and it is not the correct use of police officers’ time.
“For certain calls, there will always be a need for officers to be present… however [it] is right to say that officers are being called to attend too many such incidents and are being detained in accident and emergency for too long.
“In recent years, the situation has improved – 76,000 hours of police officer time has been saved as a result of work that has been done by Police Scotland and the health service. However, there is more to do.
“Capacity needs to be improved, and new support needs to be made available through the health service.”
The issue also came up during a recent session of First Minister’s Questions, with Swinney saying: “I often hear from police officers, locally and nationally, about the volume of engagement that police officers have with members of the public in mental health distress.”
As well as existing interventions, there are also plans for a national rollout of mental health triage cars, which currently operate in Glasgow, Inverness and Dundee.
