Police have announced changes to how they will respond to mental health callouts, in an attempt to relieve demand pressures on officers.
In a statement this morning, Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced phased changes over the coming year.
“Police have formally notified Health New Zealand authorities and stakeholders that the higher thresholds will ensure police prioritise events where there is an immediate risk to life and safety,” the statement read.
Police said that once the programme is introduced, the higher thresholds will ensure officers prioritise events where there is an immediate risk to life and safety.
Calls that fall short of that threshold will not be attended by police, but directed to more appropriate services, Coster said.
“It is well documented that mental health demand is increasing, and our challenges in meeting this demand are ongoing and impacting our ability to service other needs in our community,” Coster said.
He said mental health demands accounted for 11% of calls to the emergency communication centre in the year to May 2024.
“Of those events, only 5% had a criminal element and 11% of calls are coded P1 and are given a priority response,” Coster said.
“It has been clear to me for some time that this is simply not sustainable and prevents us from keeping other areas of the community safe.
“It impacts on our ability to deliver core policing services.
“As well as impacting our frontline, it also creates bottlenecks at the Emergency Communication Centres – meaning they can’t always respond to every call in a timely manner.”
The changes will be rolled out in four phases, beginning in November this year.
Phase 1: 1 November
• Voluntary handovers at emergency departments – Police will streamline the handover process for people wanting to undertake a mental health assessment voluntarily. Once handed over to Health staff, police will depart immediately.
• Mental Health transportation requests – will be subject to a higher threshold before Police agree to become involved.
• Police attendance at mental health facilities – will also be subject to a higher threshold.
Phase 2: January to March 2025
• 60 minute ED handovers – Police who have transported a person detained under the Mental Health Act for an assessment will remain for a maximum one hour before departing unless they consider there is an immediate risk to life or safety.
• Mental Health custody rules tightened – Police do not consider custody suites to be an appropriate place for mental health assessments to be conducted. Custody rules will ensure people in distress are not being assessed unnecessarily in police custody.
Phase 3: April to June 2025
• Requests for assistance from health practitioners – Our new threshold will ensure Police are not directed unnecessarily to mental health work by practitioners.
• Missing Mental Health patients – Many of the missing person reports generated from mental health facilities and wards generate a more immediate response than other missing person reports.
Police will work with agencies to establish a more appropriate model for managing these situations, including Police not being the first to begin searching for missing persons.
Phase 4: July to September 2025
• 15 minute ED handovers – Where police have detained a person under the Mental Health Act and transported them to an ED for mental health assessment, a handover process between Police and Health staff will occur, and Police staff will depart after 15 minutes, unless they consider there is an immediate threat to life or safety.
• Welfare checks from public and agencies – Police have been over responding to welfare checks where there is no risk of criminality or to life or safety.
‘We will need to work with health agencies’
“We will need to work with health agencies to better manage this with higher thresholds,” Coster said.
“We anticipate there will be other areas where we can better manage our response to mental health calls, and we will be assessing those areas as we progress this work.
“We want those experiencing mental health distress to get the right help at the right time from the right people.
“They do not always want or need a police car turning up or for police officers to sit with them for hours in emergency departments, further adding to the stigma of what is already a very difficult time.”
‘People in mental distress are not criminals’
Both Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and Police Minister Mark Mitchell welcomed the changes.
“This Government is committed to improving mental health outcomes for New Zealanders. For too long, those seeking crisis support have often been met by a uniformed officer, which can cause further distress,” Doocey said.
“People in mental distress are not criminals. Those seeking assistance deserve a mental health response, rather than a criminal justice response.”
Mitchell said it was “no longer sustainable” for police to be the first port of call regarding mental health issues.
“I want to acknowledge our police staff who do an outstanding job with great empathy, but they are not trained mental health experts.
“Ultimately, we want to ensure people are getting the right care, at the right time, from the right people, and that our frontline officers have more time to focus on core policing and delivering the services expected of them to keep communities safe.
“The shift requires a careful, measured approach and I am very supportive and assured of the joined-up efforts police and health are taking to get there.”
Mental heath workforce shortages need to be considered
Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora said it and the Ministry of Health were working with police on ways to implement the changes.
“Police will continue to respond – just as they always have – to mental health events with immediate risks to life and safety, keeping members of the public and our workforce safe,” Health NZ chief executive Margie Apa said.
“There will be other times, however, when a health-led response is more desirable.
“For example, the potential stigma for a distressed person of waiting in ED for a mental health assessment can be exacerbated if they are accompanied by Police.”
Health NZ said it was working with clinical experts, ED representatives, health and safety specialists, security staff and others to make sure a “robust” operational plan was in place.
“One of the factors we will need to consider as part of our transition planning is our on-going mental health workforce shortages.”
