Is suicide considered a crime/illegal in the UK

[Awaytome]

Just wondering is suicide a crime here?

I have a very funny feeling this is a reverse, judging by your responses that you seem to find the whole thing hilarious with the lols and the hahas and not something to be very upset and concerned over.
You seem more interested in wether the police have power in this situation and your 'friend' having to leave hospital in flip flops. Which is something I would expect from someone who doesn't want to cooperate with the services focusing on minor details that are irrelevant.
Hence the reverse thread.

Something doesn't sit right with me with police being involved in health care.

The police aren’t there to punish people.

I’d concentrate on helping your friend get home safely.

Police would only be involved if your 'friend' was being a serious danger to herself or anyone else. If she was trying to resist the help from the professionals and police were called to assist. She may have been aggressive, confrontational and unpredictable to those around her.
The police would NOT have been involved had any of the above not happened. Sorry but they wouldn't. So in this case I would highly suspect that your 'friend' has not told you the full story.
But then you already know what actually happened because 'friend' was yourself and you are furious at the situation and trying to find loopholes to get yourself out of the care of the mental health professionals at the hospital so you can get home.

Well she's currently making her way home via bus in her pjs! I can't help her as I don't have a car.

Well it doesnt reallt matter wether you think the Police should be involved or not its bern explainex several rimes the police DO have certain powers under the mental health wether you think they should or not is irelevant im sure there was a very similar thread a few weeks ago ......

I agree with jellie.
The 'lol' is to minimise .
Please don't feel like you have to minimise anything , take all the help you can get.

Police powers under the MHA are sec 136 which only covers taking someone from a public place to a place of safety for assessment.

Sec 135 can have someone taken from their home but it requires a magistrate to approve a warrant and the Police would have HCPs with them.

Something doesn't sit right with me with police being involved in health care.

Really? A large part of the job of policing is dealing with mental health issues. They can't just walk away, because then people tend to kill themselves or other people.

Not enough money is spent on mental health in this country, so the police get to mop up the mess, so to speak. It's far from perfect, but the police are doing their best, with what they've got to work with. How were the police to know if your friend was merely jesting? Should they just let people try to kill them selves because if they fail it's no longer a punishable offence? Should people not be sectioned because it's not nice to keep people against their will?

Of course the police should be involved. Their role is to protect the public and that includes people from themselves sometimes. There is no one else who can do this.

what would you prefer had happened op?
people helped her, ie. the police.

Sounds like the police did their best to stop a situation escalating.

Something doesn't sit right with me with police being involved in health care

They have to be because so few other agencies will. Social work, NHS 111 service generally default to phoning the police in cases like this. The police have a duty of care. This is part of the reason the police responses are the way they are. Last week My shift had FIVE patrol cars off the road at the hospital for the entire shift sitting with suicidal people. That's TEN police officers off patrol.

They're there because the person has made threats of suicide & will be with them until either a family member comes or they're assessed. 9/10 get sent home with no treatment.

The police are merely doing the job by default because no-one else will

Look at it another way. It's been flagged to police that your friend is suicidal they go out do nothing & she kills herself. You'd be holding the police responsible for not doing more. Anything that's been done is done in her best interests

The police are not the bad guys who just arrest people for crimes.

The police officer who found my friend and got her help showed more care and compassion than the member of the MH team who had earlier told her she just needed a distraction when friend told them she was having intrusive thoughts and was going to act on them.

I find it hard to belive she is in pyjamas unless she refused to get dressed - the police would let her get dressed altho they might want to stay close to make she does not access anything dangerous.
Also the hospital ime invariably order a taxi to make sure you get home safely so something odd here

Police here wouldn't let her get dressed due to time and once deemed to have capacity she'd need to make her own way home as she wouldn't qualify for transport.

I've had more care and compassion from police than mh professionals. One time I was told it was a totally rational choice to end my life after being taken there by police after someone else rang them and I should be arrested for wasting police time.

I won't repeat what the police said.

I was sent home as not ill.

The police called on me for three days after that to make sure I was ok and reassure me I wasn't going to be arrested.

I later found out the police complained about my treatment.

Oh that's lovely that they looked after you after and complained on your behalf

The police are there to keep us all safe from harm, including harming ourselves. Why is that so difficult to understand?