'Police officers are not trained to deal with mental health - it's not their fault'

Karen McKeown's partner Luke Henderson died in 2017 after previously struggling with his mental health.

The mother-of-two, from Bellshill in North Lanarkshire, said in Luke's case the police were the worst service to deal with his "mental health crisis".

"I think the police do a good job in some aspects but when it comes to them dealing with mental health they're just not trained and it's not the officers' fault," she said.

It comes after a report by the police watchdog found that responding to mental health-related incidents is limiting Police Scotland's ability to prevent, investigate and detect crime.

Karen was told regularly when seeking help for Luke that the police had to be called if she thought he was a danger to her or himself.

"In Luke's situation, if the police had to be called it would have fed into his delusions even more because one is where the police are against him - they are after him," she said.

"So if the police had to be called to come out it would have escalated it even though they are there to de-escalate the situation.

"It's just not fair on the person, it's not fair on the officers that are having to deal with it - there just needs to be more support around the full mental health situation and it can't be left to the police."