CONSIDERATIONS FOR SAFER RESTRAINT

IVCA Gold Award Winner 2007

Considerations for Safer Restraint was commissioned by the Mental Health Unit of the Metropolitan Police Service to be used both for internal training purposes and also to show third parties (coroners, medical professionals, pressure groups) the training that all officers receive on safe restraint for people in agitated and distressed states.

The film was also designed to help officers understand what mental health service users were feeling and thinking when being confronted by the Police.

(click play icon to see trailer)

Outside the police there is a thirst for more information about how and why the police carry out restraint. Many people view restraint as a clinical exercise where officers move smoothly and efficiently from one defined position to another. There is little knowledge or appreciation of what occurs in the reality of a violent restraint. In this artificial clinical atmosphere it is only to be expected that community opinion formers and judicial forums have impossible expectations of officers' abilities to carry out authorised holds and to record their actions.
This DVD effectively illustrates what can be very difficult to describe and can be used to explain to practitioners and other interested parties how and why officers restrain people. The DVD may be used to inform groups such as independent advisors, pan-London opinion formers, other partners, independent custody visitors and local community groups.
The DVD shows how the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) deals with people in a mental health crises, acute behavioral disorder (ABD) and restraint so that the audience will understand:

MPS POLICY
HOW THE POLICE ARE TRAINED TO DEAL WITH ABD
THE PERSPECTIVE OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE USERS
DYNAMIC RISK ASSESSMENT
TACTICAL COMMUNICATION
RESTRAINT AND THE DIFFICULTIES INVOLVED
MEDICAL IMPLICATIONS
ROLE OF SAFETY OFFICER
HAND OVER TO NHS