Circumstances in which a police station may be used as a place of safety
2.—(1) An adult (“A”) may only be removed to, kept at, or taken to, a place of safety that is a police station in the exercise of a power to which section 136A of the Act applies(1) where—
(a)the decision-maker is satisfied that—
(i)the behaviour of A poses an imminent risk of serious injury or death to A, or to another person,
(ii)because of that risk, no place of safety other than a police station in the relevant police area can reasonably be expected to detain A, and
(iii)the requirement in sub-paragraph (b) of regulation 4(1) will be met, and
(b)where the decision-maker is not an officer of the rank of inspector or above, an officer of that rank or above authorises that A may be removed to, kept at, or taken to a place of safety that is a police station.
(2) Before determining that the circumstances in paragraphs (i) to (iii) of paragraph (1)(a) exist, a decision-maker who is a constable must, if it is reasonably practicable to do so, consult—
(a)a registered medical practitioner,
(b)a registered nurse,
(c)an approved mental health professional, or
(d)a person of a description specified in regulation 8(1).
(3) In this regulation—
“decision-maker” means—
in relation to the exercise of a power under section 135(1) or 136(1)(2) of the Act, the constable exercising that power,
in relation to the exercise of a power under section 135(3A) or 136(3) of the Act, the constable or approved mental health professional who—
exercises that power, or
authorises a person to exercise that power,
“relevant police area” means the police area in which A is located when a power to which section 136A of the Act applies begins to be exercised in relation to A.
By virtue of section 136A(4), the powers to which that section applies are: the power to remove a person to a place of safety under a warrant issued under section 135(1), the power to take a person to a place of safety under section 135(3A), the power to remove a person to, or to keep a person at, a place of safety under section 136(1), and the power to take a person to a place of safety under section 136(3).
Section 135 was amended by paragraph 26 of Part I of Schedule 6, and Part 1 of Schedule 7, to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (c.60), paragraph 1 of Schedule 10 to the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990 (c.19), paragraph 9(9) of Schedule 4 to the Care Standards Act 2002 (c.14), section 44(2) of, and paragraph 10(a) of Schedule 2 to, the Mental Health Act 2007 (c.12), and S.I. 2015/914 and 2016/413. There are other amendments but none are relevant. Section 136 was amended by section 44(3) of, and paragraph 10(b) of Schedule 2 to, the Mental Health Act 2007.