Dump the cops, we need a new mental health crisis response structure
Police to reduce social harm callouts with new risk-harm framework
Police have begun testing a new way of weighing up harm and risks when they take emergency 111 calls, which will see fewer responses by officers to social harm calls.
The changes extend to the way in which all non-emergency calls are prioritised, too.
This could lead to the national rollout of the different system being approved by the end of the year.
It is the most significant move to date in the shift, which police signalled months ago. It aims to reduce their response to social harm callouts in order to save resources for crime call-outs.
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, when 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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In the early 1980s we had regional flying squads of mental health teams who came out to such crises .My family used these teams on a few ocassions for a sick family member .They were despatched from their base in hamilton which covered the waikato and arrived in a short time to take control of the situation .Some where along the line they dissapeared which left a massive gap which in turn may have led to murders ,and most definitley suicides happening .These people were excellent and even the unwell person could contact them them selves if they were in trouble .BRING THEM BACK
My wife works in a mental health crisis team out of Hamilton. They are still operating albeit as you can imagine under financial duress. They are on rotational shifts however call outs after 11.30pm were cut as a cost saving mechanism and now people are automatically put through to the mental health 0800 phone line or directed to contact police. We now know that the police won’t be an option despite statements to the contrary.
My wife and other team members were regularly contacted to attend a callout after 12am to places like Tokoroa, and the greater Waikato area. This has seen an increase of mental health issues arrive at ED and overwhelm a system not designed for mental health.
Their crisis and CAHT teams have been watered down.
Sadly the government has put money over health and where money is absolutely needed, it has gone to areas like landlord rebates which is not required.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/govt-directive-to-public-services-to-deliver-on-need-not-race-unscientific-and-dangerous-researchers-say/DGIFU3SWMZFAHMWQDCJJE47BRA/
White privilege in health as told by the experts.
Meanwhile ED will explode with mental health patients due to Nationals policy to remove police callouts to support the mental health system.
more like mortuaries will explode with the extra numbers killed or the increase in suicides .Maybe the under takers have a sponsor in government .
Exactly right, ED are the beneficiaries of poor investment in mental health and the subsequent cost cuts.
Roger Douglas and Neoliberal Ideology dismantled our Mental Health System, turned out to be a real abortion IMHO ???
Where do you start on this one?
–Institutional care was flawed in many ways but did provide security for some people never likely to exist well independently or were a danger, neo lib “in the community” care was never resourced well enough, and the cops just dealt with people acting out, even injuring some and killing several with “restraint” tactics.
–Labour trumpeted a big mental health spend under Andrew Little, but it turned out very little infrastructure actually happened–and as gordon walker says above, emergency response teams are needed–and extra facilities.
Tough times and a general war on the poor from CoC are only going to increase situational mental distress for many thousands that do not have recurring mental health problems like bipolar or whatever. The Natzos answer is lock ’em up in private prisons!
What will the CoC call this police ‘ triage ‘ system of attending or dumping ?
Little Dave has grabbed the Star for Truants and Upston has grabbed the Traffic Lights , Winnie has the STFU decorum system warning miscreants who won’t listen to him while he reads poorly from his written speeches….
Perhaps when you dial police there be a pre- written set of platitudes to listen to from an overseas call centre of AI bots.
And even more important who will the police dump these people in crisis onto ? A few weeks ago, they’ve said they have been talking to community agencies for this transition, I call BS #.
Many care agencies who carry out the government’s jobs have reached capacity, have closed services and reduced staff as the CoC has dumped their funding ?
from C.Luxon and friends to The Daily Blog.
Do you mean if we TARGET the causes of crime the OUTCOME will be less crime?
Have you frickin’ taken leave of your frickin’ senses?
Do you expect wealthy people to help bottom feeders get decent housing, incomes, healthcare, help to cure addictions, proper education?
Do you think the ungrateful bastards will respond by creating a stable, egalitarian society?(We had one before but it was terrible, trade unions had too much power, there were no casinos or Gucci shops and the coffee was bland)
Do you think this is frickin’ Sweden or Norway, Finland, Denmark or some other frickin’ European hellhole?
This is New Zealand – nobody here is going to launch a revolution to overturn the social order, nor are they going to form any genuinely socialist political party.
Even if they did ,we (the rich elite) can always fuck off to our overseas homes in Switzerland or Hawaii.
You are quite right. A policeman I know hates it that they have to deal with the mentally unwell. He joined the force to fight crime, to catch the baddies, and to protect the goodies. Not to look after the crazies.
Then why are National underfunding the mental health service and creating redundancies of front line staff Tom?