to ask whether you've ever been arrested?

[doremimimi]

And if so for what?
And what was your experience like?

don't all speak at once!

I was arrested with a new acquaintance, a very charming gay guy. I'd spent the night at his flat after a party. The following morning he was planning to buy heroin and we walked down together. When we got close his dealer's flat was being staked out.

I was interviewed briefly and told them the truth - that I hardly knew this man (though I liked him) and didn't take heroin. Then I was put in the cells and left for 5 or 6 hours.

It was only later I appreciated that they thought if I was left there I'd be desperate for heroin and tell them what they wanted to know. I still remember how pissed off the senior officer was when he realised I wasn't a drug addict and wouldn't be any use in his operation.

I was released without charge. I felt very sorry for my acquaintance - as I do for all addicts.

I was arrested when I was a teenager for drug possession. The police wouldn't let me leave as my parents refused to come and collect me. At the time I was homeless and sofa surfing on local drug dealers sofas. They ended up taking me to a care home which was worse than the holding cells.

Yeah when I was 17 because I was drunk and started throwing objects around my house not sure why 😂 horrible experience that I spend a night in a cell crying. Still to this day think I was spiked

"So I counted the tiles on the wall. Then I marched back and forth the cell. I'd call for them constantly to make a cup of tea. They'd come after 20 minutes of me screeching and give me sugar in my tea when I requested none. The food they brought was like tinned dogfood. Then I resorted to singing the Irish national anthem and rebel songs lol. Eventually demanded to see a doctor but none was available. Requested sleeping tablets but they refused that as I had spent the first hour banging my head against the walls in the hopes of knocking myself out and they said they couldn't as I had a head injury."

One of my best friends is a Custody Sergeant. You realise if you're nice then they're normally nice back? Act like a pain in the arse and you get treated like one.

You're not there to be waited on hand and foot, and you were lucky to have any food at all.

You sound derranged, to be fair, OP. And the same kind of arsehole that will cause my mate and most of their colleagues to die early from stress, because you make everything ten times more difficult for everyone else and yourself. Then play the victim.

At the time, it's arguable that I was deranged.

Where I needed to be was a psychiatric hospital - not a cell. As I said, when released, I had nowhere to go, so ran in front of a bus. I was then sectioned. I should have been sectioned in the first place - not arrested and kept in solitary confinement for 72 hours. You do know that segregation or solitary confinement is what they do to torture or punish people? It was not a good plan for me. I didn't want the tea, the tinned sausages, the coffee - I needed someone - anyone - to talk to and interact with.

You realise if you're nice then they're normally nice back? They had arrested me and locked me up in a cold cell for feeling suicidal. I was not in the mood to be 'nice'.

I have for assault when I was 18, the assault was on a girl that had just glassed me leaving me with 30 stitches and permanent scars down one side of my face, she was arrested but her mum called the station repeatedly saying I cut and bruised her mouth (this was I was trying to get her off me afterwards) the station said they had to treat is a separate complaint unsure if that was true but they invited me to the station and arrested me when I arrived, was on bail for 6 months then it was dropped

Yes. When I was a teenager. Me and two friends stole a car and got caught.

I was let off with a stern telling off from the police and my mum. The other two were both charged.

The police said it was because they couldn't place me at the incident (I was sitting on a wall a few feet away when the police showed up) but I was (and still am) convinced its because I was from a 'good family' (nothing special but my mum worked, she showed up at the police station immediately, she cooperted, she cared) whereas the other two came from 'problem families'.

Sad really.

I have. My psychopathic ex called the police to say I'd assaulted him after he went for me and I stop up for myself. Previously I'd just taken the beatings When the police came he tried to get them to arrest me there and told them I was bottle feeding our newborn and to leave her with him. That was the bit that hurt the most because I was breast feeding and he was happy to leave our baby without food just to show me who had the power. Eventually the police took me to my parents!!!!! And I was arrested by appointment the next day. My ex still did have power over me because I told them a watered down version of the truth because I didn't want to get him in trouble. Awful. But that was 10 years ago and I can now deal with him without fear thankfully.

No but I have been in two houses when the police have come to look for someone. I don't know that someone anymore.

I do wonder why you weren't taken to a 136 place of safety OP but it seems you were brought to custody for your own protection, the fact you were detained for 72 hours suggests this was a while ago now and detained under 136 of the mental health act to at some point in order to receive mental health assessment and treatment. I'm not saying you were wrong in what you were doing as you were probably not of sound mind just that I bet it was a nightmare looking after you in custody, hope you are in a better place now than you were in this incident.

Slink - you're wrong - I was arrested and charged with affray - I was held in custody until the courts opened on Monday. No care whatsoever was given to my mental health.

You're not there to be waited on hand and foot, and you were lucky to have any food at all

You’re kidding, right? This is, supposedly at least, a civilised country. We feed people when they are in custody. We don’t expect them to go hungry.

Essentially, I didn't actually have any food at all as it was all inedible.

I didn't ask to be there lol.

I didn't ask to be there lol.

That's questionable isn't it?

DH has. Police officer made something up. Went to court and there were witnesses who could put the judge straight and it was thrown straight out. I have zero trust in the police.

Was a very trying time.

A few times and only cautions received .But all Spent now and don’t show on DBS.

No OP I haven't.

I am so shocked by people's reaction to your situation though @doremimimi

So many people go on about mental health awareness but are insulting you for not acting right when you were suicidal.

I found your story heartbreaking and I hope you are feeling okay now

Thanks for your kindness @littlebearstrousers

@doremimimi
I don't think you know why you were arrested charged and remanded. You were in crisis no doubt but an allegation was made and investigated and evidence presented was enough to get you charged.
Police cells are not designed for two nor are they designed for comfort.

The food is not inedible, it's all microwave meal same as you get in Tesco.

Not arrested no. I was removed to a place of safety in a police van ( in the back in a wire box) after I absconded from my ‘home’ - adolescent mental Health unit and made a serious attempt on my own life.

This was in the early nineties when I was a teenager. I was v traumatised and ashamed so I never tell people.

You sound derranged, to be fair, OP. And the same kind of arsehole that will cause my mate and most of their colleagues to die early from stress, because you make everything ten times more difficult for everyone else and yourself. Then play the victim.

When someone is having a mental health crisis, they're often not responsible for their actions. And a police cell is entirely the wrong place for them, they should be in a hospital.

It's a bloody scandal that our MH services are so under-resourced that it seems (at least in my area) that people routinely spend 72 hours held in a police cell before being admitted.

Calling someone with mental illness an "arsehole" demonstrates a singular lack of compassion and empathy. I hope your police officer friend is a bit more caring in their approach (many police officers are brilliant with people in crisis, thankfully, despite it not being their job to care for them).