Police union demands law change over mental health patient handling

Local healthmental healthparliamentpoliceTop News Police union demands law change over mental health patient handling Mental Health Patients Left Houseless After Athalassa Treatment, Mps Hear Relevant News Police union demands law change over mental health patient handling 10 September 2026 Police union: patrol cars ‘covered in blood’ from mental health call-outs 10 September 2026 Cyprus extends 8.33-cent fuel duty cut to November 30 10 September 2026 Newsroom 10 September 2026 FacebookXWhatsAppEmailPrintViber A police union spokesman told Parliament’s Health Committee that officers handling mentally ill patients are still following procedures that look decades, if not centuries, old, during a discussion of problems in Cyprus’s mental health services. Nikos Loizides, press spokesman for the Isotita police union, said officers are sent to break down patients’ front doors and end up acting as psychologists to distressed relatives before restraining the patient. “We put handcuffs on them, throw them into the van and the holding cell,” he said, calling for a change in the law. Loizides then gave a detailed account of what a typical committal looks like in practice. After a court order reaches the police station, he said, officers go to the patient’s house, break down the door if necessary, and take on the role of psychologist for the family before handcuffing the patient and taking them to hospital. There, he said, patients often wait in a queue despite instructions that they should be seen first; if a psychiatrist confirms compulsory hospitalisation is needed, officers must return to court. A judge sometimes orders the patient held overnight in a safe place instead, sending them back to the police station, where, despite already having a medical assessment recommending psychiatric care, “he sleeps in the cell or on the ground with blankets,” Loizides said, adding that no nurse is present at any stage. The following day, he said, officers wait at court for the process to be repeated, only to be told to take the patient to the psychiatric hospital, where no doctor is on site after 2:30 pm. Officers must then call an on-call doctor and wait outside until one arrives. “Half our patrol cars are bloodied from these people’s injuries,” Loizides said, describing officers who end up acting as psychiatrists and psychologists to calm patients before handing them over. Loizides also said the 1997 Psychiatric Treatment Law effectively casts police officers as psychiatrists: under Article 36, he said, officers must file testimony against the patient before a compulsory psychiatric treatment order can be issued. Turning to MPs, Loizides called for technology to remove the need for the final court stage. “We have Skype, we have Microsoft Teams,” he said, suggesting that once a psychiatric assessment confirms a patient needs compulsory care, a judge could question them by video link instead. The House Health Committee’s discussion continues a session it began before Parliament’s summer recess. Subscribe to our Newsletter Latest News Police union: patrol cars ‘covered in blood’ from mental health call-outs Cyprus extends 8.33-cent fuel duty cut to November 30 Missing British MMA fighters identified as targets of foiled Cyprus murder plot Herzog hopes for Cyprus-Lebanon-Israel leaders’ meeting as talks cover energy and defence Child benefit reform to reach 17,000 families under Cabinet-approved changes Blaze near Pano Deftera now under control (video) “He sold land like he sold passports,” MP says Anastasiades Follow en.philenews on Google News and be the first to know all the news about Cyprus and the world.