SENIOR police officers have praised a pioneering scheme which has helped the police to deal with hundreds of mentally ill offenders more effectively.

Since the scheme was introduced three years ago, hundreds of people who have fallen foul of the police have got the specialist medical attention they need.

The project run by County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust involves having specially-trained nurses based in police stations in Darlington and Durham City.

Apart from helping the police identify people with a mental health problem and arrange suitable treatment, the nurses have held awareness raising sessions with 240 County Durham police officers.

Now the nurses are hoping to hold training sessions for police armed response units in an attempt to reduce the risk of serious incidents.

A growing concern is the risk of so-called "suicide by cop", when mentally ill people deliberately try to get themselves shot by police marksman.

Simon Jones, general manager of adult mental health services in the south of County Durham, said a recent case of "police-assisted suicide" in London highlighted the extreme risk that mentally disordered offenders could place themselves in.

While this is more of an issue in the US, there is a need to raise awareness among UK police officers who are authorised to use firearms, he said.

"The ultimate aim is to train police officers so that when they get an incident like this they are better equipped to deal with it," said Mr Jones.

Andy Airey, a specialist nurse at Darlington police station, said: "Police assisted suicide is a problem in the US which we are beginning to see over here.

"A recent report into a police killing in London recommended that armed officers should have more mental health awareness and that is what we are hoping to do."

Jackie McDonnell, Mr Airey's equivalent in Durham, will have the chance to learn first-hand how the US police deal with incidents involving mentally ill people when she flies out to Seattle later this year on a Royal College of Nursing and Nuffield travel scholarship.

"The American police have more training and can take offenders to a special clinic which is open 24 hours a day," she said.

Chief Superintendent Michael Banks said: "These nurses do a great job for us.