england-and-wales legal-terms police definition mental-health
Under what circumstances may one be brought to a safe place by police under the Mental Health Act?
<p>Are they completely distinct from those in which one may be &quot;sectioned&quot;?</p>

<p>There are two safeguarding provisions under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/contents" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Mental Health Act 1983</a> empowering the police to remove a person to a &quot;place of safety&quot;, defined by section 135(6) to mean:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>residential accommodation provided by a local social services authority under Part 1 of the Care Act 2014 or Part 4 of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, a hospital as defined by this Act, a police station, an independent hospital or care home for mentally disordered persons or any other suitable place....</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The first provision is a warrant under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/135?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 135</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1)If it appears to a justice of the peace, on information on oath laid by an approved mental health professional, that there is reasonable cause to suspect that a person believed to be suffering from mental disorder—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a)has been, or is being, ill-treated, neglected or kept otherwise than under proper control, in any place within the jurisdiction of the justice, or</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b)being unable to care for himself, is living alone in any such place,</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>the justice may issue a warrant <strong>authorising any constable</strong> to enter, if need be by force, any premises specified in the warrant in which that person is believed to be, and, if thought fit, to remove him to a place of safety with a view to the making of an application in respect of him under Part II of this Act, or of other arrangements for his treatment or care.</p>
<p>(1A)If the premises specified in the warrant are a place of safety, the constable executing the warrant may, instead of removing the person to another place of safety, keep the person at those premises for the purpose mentioned in subsection (1).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And the second provision is the non-warranted power under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/136?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 136</a> when urgent action is required:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1)If a person appears to <strong>a constable</strong> to be suffering from mental disorder and to be in immediate need of care or control, the constable may, if he thinks it necessary to do so in the interests of that person or for the protection of other persons—</p>
<ul>
<li><p>(a)remove the person to a place of safety within the meaning of section 135, or</p>
</li>
<li><p>(b)if the person is already at a place of safety within the meaning of that section, keep the person at that place or remove the person to another place of safety.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</blockquote>
<p>Although complementary, these provisions are entirely seperate and distinct from being &quot;sectioned&quot;, which is a colloquialism referring to the admission in to hospital under the Mental Health Act 1983 someone, when:</p>
<p>under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/2?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 2(2)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(a)he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which warrants the detention of the patient in a hospital <strong>for assessment</strong> (or for assessment followed by medical treatment) for at least a limited period; and</p>
<p>(b)he ought to be so detained in the interests of his own health or safety or with a view to the protection of other persons</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Or...</p>
<p>under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/3?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 3(2)</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(a)he is suffering from mental disorder of a nature or degree which makes it appropriate for him to receive <strong>medical treatment</strong> in a hospital; and</p>
<p>(b) [<em>repealed</em>]</p>
<p>(c)it is necessary for the health or safety of the patient or for the protection of other persons that he should receive such treatment and it cannot be provided unless he is detained under this section; and</p>
<p>(d)appropriate medical treatment is available for him.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Or...</p>
<p>under <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/4?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 4(2)</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>(2)An emergency application may be made either by an approved mental health professional or by the nearest relative of the patient; and every such application shall include a statement that it is of <strong>urgent necessity</strong> for the patient to be admitted and detained under section 2 above.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And...</p>
<p><a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/20/section/5?timeline=false" rel="nofollow noreferrer">section 5</a> establishes that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>(1)An application for the admission of a patient to a hospital may be made under this Part of this Act notwithstanding that the patient is already an in-patient in that hospital...</p>
</blockquote>
