Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis spoke to Ashley Women’s Institute (WI) about his role and the ongoing work to get the right support for people in mental health crisis.
Mr Ellis has led a cross-agency approach in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent to stop people in mental health crisis ending up in police cells simply for being ill. This led to significant improvements and saw the number of such cases fall by almost two-thirds – from 168 in 2012 to 69 in 2014.
After his talk he took part in a lively question and answer session about this and local policing.
Mr Ellis said: “I would like to thank Ashley WI for inviting me to speak with them about policing in Staffordshire specifically the work I have been doing around mental health. I received such a warm welcome and enjoyed answering the questions they raised.
“It was a great turn out with some lively debate and I thank them for their hospitality.”
Bunty Hodgkins, secretary of Ashley WI said: “Thank you to the Commissioner for coming to speak with Ashley WI. The evening was extremely informative and Mr Ellis was well received by our members.”
“It has given us all a great insight into the work of the Staffordshire Police and Crime Commissioner – and left us very reassured about the future of policing in Staffordshire.”
