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Families, health professionals and police chiefs gather for mental health forum
MIKEY POWELL, Kingsley Burrell, Sean Rigg, Olaseni Lewis, Roger Sylvester and many more – the tragic roll call of names of those who have died in police custody were read out several times during the UK’s first ever public forum on black mental health.
Senior political figures joined forces with police chiefs, health professionals, and also families of the dead who gave traumatic accounts of their long fight seeking justice for their loved ones.
Those directly involved in policing and mental health vowed it will be a turning point in the campaign for justice, empathy and expertise when dealing with those in mental crisis.
The national conference was organised by the Wolverhampton-based African Caribbean Community Initiative (ACCI) and Black Mental Health UK (BMH UK), with the theme Mental Health, Policing & Black Britain: Coercion or Care?
Noman Lamb, Minister for Care and Support, one of more than a dozen high profile speakers, made a public commitment to meet with BMH UK and ACCI for round table discussions on the issue.
Matilda MacAttram, director of BMH UK, said after the event: “The hope is that this is the beginning of long term, meaningful engagement with Government, not just a one-off.
“The success of the conference is a reflection of how the key agencies have recognised that the concerns raised can no longer be ignored.
“For the first time in our community’s history we have seen national leaders from across the political spectrum and those who head up key organisations that monitor both the police and mental health services, attend an event organised by us. Our concerns were the main priority.
“We know because of the many cases like Kingsley Burrell-Brown, Andel Malia and Sean Rigg that this is well overdue, but this conference marks a significant breakthrough on how this issue is being dealt with.
CAMPAIGNER: Matilda MacAttram, director of BMH UK
“There is now vital work ahead for BMH UK to take advantage of every opportunity that is afforded from this conference in order to ensure that we see a transformative change in how people from the UK’s African Caribbean communities are treated when they come in contact with the police or mental health services.”
Tippa Napthali, the cousin of Mikey Powell who died in police custody in 2003, and who now runs the campaigning news website 4WardEver UK, gave a moving account of his family’s treatment by police in the wake of Powell’s death.
“The police liaison support we had as a family was laughable,” said Naphtali, who is the brother of internationally renowned poet Benjamin Zephaniah.
“There was no sympathy shown to us and we were treated like we were the ones on trial. There was also no bereavement support.”
While Brown-Burrell, sister of Kingsley Burrell who died in March 20011, was also at the conference. She wanted to know why no progress had been made following the arrests of four officers in March over her brother’s death
At the time the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said the four were held on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and misconduct in a public office.
CONCERNS: Tippa Naphtali
Brown-Burrell said: “It is now July and we still don’t know if these officers are going to be charged, or when my brother’s inquest will be held.”
Since 1969, there has been no successful prosecution of any police officer involved with a death in police custody despite a total of 11 inquests reaching verdicts of unlawful killing.
Dame Anne Owers, IPCC chair, who spoke at the conference, confirmed this, saying: “No prosecutions have been made yet involving deaths in police custody, but it is a space you may want to watch.”
Commander Christine Jones, who is the Metropolitan Police lead for mental health said she recognised the black community was "sick to death" of being listened to, saying she was well aware that "policing, mental health and the black community have a problem."
“We need to understand the difference between fear and anger in someone suffering a mental crisis,” she said. “And we need to get empathy back into policing.”
She added that anyone suffering a crisis should be treated as a medical emergency and never taken to a police cell as a place of safety.
Other speakers who took part in the conference at the Molineux Conference Centre, Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, chaired by London-based coroner Chinyere Inyama, included Charles Walker MP, a mental health champion; Andy Burnham MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health; David Prior, chair of the Care Quality Commission, and Bob Jones, Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands.