From today, the police don’t intend to respond to every mental health callout. But I don’t think we’re going to see any major difference. I’ll tell you why shortly,. And it’s based on an experience I had on Friday night.
So if you’re worried about the police saying “not our department” if you call up, as of today, about someone having a mental health issue - don’t panic.
But you know the background to this and what’s led to today’s change with the threshold for transporting mental health patients increasing; there’ll be fewer visits to mental health clinics; and police handovers to mental health staff will be shorter than what they have been.
So 11 percent. That’s a key stat. Before today, 11 percent of police work involved mental health call-outs. And, as Chris Cahill from the Police Association was saying on Newstalk ZB today, whenever the cops are called-out to one of these jobs - it can keep them away from doing other police work for hours.
He says, on average, a mental health callout keeps police tied-up for three hours - sometimes as long as five or six hours.
So Chris Cahill is pleased about these changes coming into force today. One thing he isn’t happy about, though, is that it’s being forced by the police. As he said this morning, Health NZ hasn’t come to the party itself on this one.
He says police will still turn up if people are at-risk of harming themselves or harming someone else but, if nothing changes, police will still be swamped by mental health callouts and the health system needs to “step up” and look after these people.
The reason the police get so involved is that police officers are the only people who have the power to contain people and they can be invaluable in situations where someone is mentally distressed.
Chris Cahill, though, says the experience overseas where police have pulled back from mental health callouts, he says patients have ended up getting the treatment they need sooner.
Now I don’t know about that. Because I haven’t been able to find anything to support that online today.
And remember it is Chris Cahill’s job to represent police officers who are at the coalface when it comes to mental health callouts and who know full-well how these callouts impact their ability to deal with genuine criminal activity.
Because that’s been the argument the police have made all along. That, just because someone is in a state of mental despair, it doesn’t mean they’re a criminal. Which makes perfect sense.
But, as we know, sometimes a person can be more inclined to commit criminal behaviour than they usually would because of their mental distress.
Which is why the police have, in recent years, become the default responders in situations like these.
That, if someone is a threat to either their own safety or someone else’s safety, then call the cops.
Which is the situation I found myself in on Friday. It was about 5:30pm and I was in the centre of town.
I saw this guy who looked like he was crossing the road one minute, then walking back onto the footpath, and going around in circles, then trying to cross the road again. And drivers were tooting at him and there were a couple of people watching him.
And I went up to them and said ‘is that guy ok?’. Now - one weird thing - was the number of people who seemed prepared just to watch what was going on. There were people standing on the balconies of their apartments looking down at the street. Another guy was closer to the action. And he was who I spoke to initially.
Then the guy himself - who was pretty dazed - came up towards me and I tried to have a word with him. But he wasn’t making much sense. He was wearing a bike helmet and I could see a bike nearby but he said he hadn’t fallen off. But he just wasn’t making much sense.
And he tried to walk off in the opposite direction of where his bike was. So a few young guys who were staying at the backpackers across the road and I got him to stop and have a sit down on the footpath. And I knew I had to call for help. And, at that point, I thought we were dealing potentially with someone who diabetic or something like that, so called St John’s.
I went through the rigmarole of describing what was going on and the ambo operator got me to ask the guy if he was on any medication. So I did, and he said something about “mental health” - but that was about it. So I passed that on and the operator said they’d logged the job and asked us to stay with this guy.
Not that long after that a cop car turned up. And, as soon as the cops got out, it was clear they knew what had been going on and they said that the ambo people were snowed under and they’d asked the police to deal with it.
So they had a chat with the guy, found some prescription stuff in his bag, they seemed to think that he hadn’t taken his meds and they put him in the back of the police car to take him to hospital to get checked out.
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From today, the police might be turning up to every mental health call out. So until now, eleven percent of police jobs involved this type of work. Not anymore. Well that's the police's intention as of today. But I'll tell you what. I don't think we're going to see any major difference, and I'll tell you why shortly. And it's based on an experience I had on Friday night. So if you're worried about the police saying not our department, if you call up as of today about someone having a mental health issue, well don't panic and I'll turn you why shortly. But you know the background to this and what's led to the change. With the threshold for transporting mental health patients increasing, there will be fewer visits to mental health clinics. This is by the police, and police handovers to mental health staff will be shorter than what they have been. So the keystat eleven percent before today, eleven percent of police work involved mental health callouts. And as Chris Carhill from the Police Association was saying on the radio today, whenever the cops are called out to one of these jobs. It can keep them away from doing other police work for hours, he was saying this morning. On average, a mental health call out keeps police tied up for three hours, sometimes as long as five or six hours. So Chris carhile he's pleased about the changes coming into force today. One thing though he isn't happy about is that it's been forced by the police. As he said this morning Health New Zealand, it just hasn't come to the party on this one. And he says police will still turn up if people are at risk of harming themselves or harming someone else. But he says if nothing changes, police will still be swamped by mental health call outs, and that's why these changes have to happen. The reason the police gets so involved, by the way, is that police officers, they are the only people who have the power to contain people, so they can be invaluable in situations where someone is mentally distressed. Chris Carhill, he says the experience overseas where police have pulled back from mental health call outs, he says patients have ended up getting the treatment they need sooner. Now I don't know about that. I can't confirm or deny because I haven't been able to find anything to support that online today. And remember too, it is Chris Carhill's job to represent police officers who are at the coal face when it comes to mental health call outs and who know full well how they impact their ability to do other police work, because that's been the argument the police have made all along. Not just because someone is in a state of mental despair, it doesn't mean that they're a criminal. It makes perfect sense, but as we know, sometimes a person can be more inclined to commit criminal behavior than they usually would because of their mental distress. That's why the police in recent years seemed to have become the default responders in situations like these, which is a situation I found myself and on Friday, it was about five point thirty five thirty Friday night. I was in the center of town, not far from where I am at the moment, just down the road from work, and I saw this guy who looked like he was crossing the road one minute, then walking back onto the footpath and was going around circles, then trying across the road again, and drivers were turning at him, and there were a couple of people watching him and I went up to them and said, is that guy okay? You reckon now? Just as an aside, a weird aside. What was weird was the number of people who seemed prepared just to watch what was going on. There were people standing on the balconies of their apartments looking down on the street. And then another guy was closer to the action than he was, a guy I spoke to initially. Then the guy himself who caught my attention, who was He seemed pretty dazed. He came up towards me and I tried to have a word with him, but he wasn't making much sense. He was wearing a bike helmet and I could see a bike nearby, but he said he hadn't fallen off his bike. He just wasn't making sense, and he tried to walk off in the opposite direction of where the bike was. So me and a few young guys who were staying at the backpackers across the road, we got him to stop and got them to sit down on the footpath, and I knew I had to call for help, And at that point I thought we were dealing potentially with someone who was diabetic or something like that, So I called Saint John's so called by moment got through the ambulance and I went through the rigmarole of describing what was going on, and the AMBO operator got me to ask the guy who's on any medication? So I did that. I said, are you on any medication? Mate? And he muttered something about mental health, but that was about it. So I passed that info on to the operator and they said they'd logged the job and asked me and these other guys to stay with this guy until help arrived. Not long after. Not long after that had a cop car turned up, and as soon as the cops got out, it was clear they knew what had been going on, and they said that the AMBO people were snowed under and they'd asked the police to deal with it. So they had to chat with this guy. They found some prescription stuff in his bag. They seem to think that he hadn't taken his meds, and so what they did is they put him in the back of the police car to take him to hospital to get checked out. Now what this tells me, and what this told me, is that the police can say that as of today, they're not going to be the first port of call for mental health call outs anymore. But I don't see that changing in any great way. And the reason I think that is based on what I saw happen on Friday night. Even though I called ambulance, the police ended up being sent to deal with it because Saint John's was snowed under and didn't have capacity to respond, which is not a new thing our Rambo services. They're constantly snowed under, aren't they. And this is why I see very little changing as of today. And this is why I think the police are going to be very disappointed when they really that the number of mental health call outs are dealing with doesn't change all that much. And do you know what, it doesn't actually bother me because of the ambulance can't help and the police won't help. Where does that leave us?
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