We don’t want NZ Police responding to mental health call outs but Unions do

Mental health callouts: Police ‘wiping their hands’ – union

Police failed to respond to emergency calls from mental health workers who were allegedly assaulted by a patient, according to a complaint laid by the Public Service Association (PSA).

The union has complained to the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA), saying despite assurances police would respond to immediate risks to life or safety, assistance never arrived.

The PSA also wants a wider review into police procedures around mental health callouts, concerned that changes to the response have left staff more vulnerable to violence.

According to the PSA’s complaint, on 21 November three emergency calls by a mental health worker went unanswered in the space of 90 minutes.

PSA national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said union members were concerned changes to the Police Mental Health Change Response programme had set a precedent where police were “wiping their hands” of mental health-related callouts.

Police have been phasing in changes to how they respond to mental health-related callouts, including spending less time at patient handovers, and higher thresholds for whether police assistance was required at non-emergency requests.

A PSA survey of mental health staff showed 91 percent of workers thought the changes would increase safety risks.

“All of this was preventable. Mental health workers told Health New Zealand, the Police, and the government that the consequences of Police withdrawing would be significant. We need the Police to revisit this decision urgently, or the results will be tragic,” Fitzsimons said.

We don’t want NZ Police responding to mental health call outs but Unions do because their members are being left to clean up the mess.

The Police are a blunt force trauma to mental health call outs…

Taser use on mentally ill people doubles: ‘It just beggars belief’

Mental health advocates have slammed the high use of tasers on people in crisis as a damning indictment on a health system which has left police as the default emergency responder.

New research shows more than half of people tasered by police are mentally ill, in distress or suicidal.

The report, commissioned by police as part of a wider investigation into bias within the ranks, found:

• Taser use during mental health calls-out had doubled since 2017
• 54 percent of people tasered between July and December 2022 were in mental distress, mentally unwell or suicidal
• People in mental health residences or in-patient units were tasered on four occasions
• Data on the mental state of those tasered was poor, with written reports often failing to mention mental distress that was evident from body camera footage
• Some police were using a taser as a “compliance” tool
• People clearly experiencing distress were deemed “non-compliant” (rather than unwell or unable to follow instructions)
• Police were unwilling to approach individuals they perceived to be unwell, seeing them as “unpredictable”.

…Police should not be the ones sent in to deal with people having a mental health episode, we need specially trained ‘First responder mental health teams’ who have the resources and skill set to de-escalate a situation and get a person the help they need.

Real wrap around social services provided after the call out.

A genuine attempt to heal and help people rather than criminalise them.

You know, solutions rather than counter productive damage.

The problem is that the entire mental health industry is horrifically underfunded and we have dumped them onto the Police and the Police don’t have the skill set to deal with them.

We need our Police actually countering crime, not wasting their time on mental health call outs which they are more likely to exacerbate than help.

To do this requires enormous investment and a whole new branch of emergency response and with a Government focused on a $2.9b tax break for the richest landlords alongside $14billion in unfordable tax cuts, there is no way of that happening.

The system is now in collapse and the way National have manufactured a cost crisis in Health by purposely underfunding health means things are doomed to become more oppressive for the poorest and most vulnerable.

The safety net has become a noose.

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