A PLACE of safety for vulnerable adults detained by the police will be officially opened today at Cross Lane Hospital in Scarborough.

People can be detained in the unit for up to 72 hours if they are in mental health crisis and the police believe them to be in immediate need of care for the sake of their own, or another person’s, safety.

Until now, police have had no option but to take these people to a custody suite.

A second place of safety is due to open at Bootham Hospital in York next month.