Daily dealing with mental health crises hurts patients and police

Officers spend hours with people who should be with health experts, says Gavin Cashion

MY

policing career spans 20 years. I have worked primarily in the southern part of the state in general duties uniform at Hobart, Glenorchy and New Norfolk, in criminal investigation in Hobart and Bellerive and in Southern Liquor Licensing.

For 15 of those 20 years, I have also been serving and representing police officers as an official on the executive of the Police Association of Tasmania.

In recent weeks I have been inundated with stories of mental health incidents that our members are dealing with on a daily and nightly basis.

I will not go into detail of any particular incident out of respect for the individuals concerned who are generally in these circumstances through no fault of their own.

I have made this decision after reading a report of a particularly disturbing incident that, if it was not so tragic, would be worthy of Monty Python status.

It is sufficient to say that the individual who was at serious risk of self-harm was distressed to the extent that the police officers were desperate to ensure the person received quick and respectful treatment in an environment that was seemingly insensitive to the person’s needs.

What I will briefly try to detail is the effect these and other issues are having on our already stretched resources.

Every day, Tasmania Police deals with the increasing issue of mental health and its effect on all Tasmanian families and communities. When these issues are combined with alcohol and drugs, the problems grow exponentially.

There are daily serious incidents in which police are required to intervene, which never make the nightly news or morning papers, and for good reasons, the leading one being the fact these incidents are managed in such a way they are (usually) resolved peacefully, and also to protect privacy of people concerned.

There are many people who in decades past would have been institutionalised with mental health problems and, while we accept this as the case, police officers too often carry the responsibility when they are unable to cope.

We know there are people living in the community who are heavily medicated, or at least they should be, but some sell their medication and then attempt to report it stolen. Is this a police problem or an issue for health professionals?

I had a report from a member who was called to deal with an extremely intoxicated woman. Her daughter was removed by family members because of potential violence by the mother. Information indicated the woman was threatening suicide and police were asked to assist Ambulance Tasmania. Police arrived and remained at the scene for 10 minutes, which under the memorandum of understanding between Tasmania Police and Health Services we are obliged to do, to ensure the safety of all parties.

The ambulance crew did not attend, probably called away to another more serious incident. No criticism of Ambulance Tasmania because we don’t know the circumstances. The conclusion to this story was that the police took a very drunk, upset but compliant female to Launceston General Hospital for assessment. Is this a police responsibility?

This is another example of Tasmania Police being tasked by another emergency service to assist but our members ultimately taking

responsibility for the job.

On any given day or night, police take people into protective custody and convey them to hospital, where we have no option but to sit and watch over a person for up to four hours, sometimes with little or no assistance in those emergency departments.

Police are not trained mental health professionals and the constant use of our members as minders puts the individual and our members at risk.

Ultimately these people are seen as patients, that is guaranteed. If so why not do it earlier rather than later as there is no time advantage for the hospital, only police time diverted from other duties.

The obvious solution is that when police officers take these distressed people to emergency departments, they are passed over to medical personnel or hospital security and the police officers who play no part in their treatment can return to police duties.

Another more sympathetic solution is what’s about to happen in Victoria. In May the Police Association of Victoria announced the Government had allocated funding to operate six emergency department crisis hubs to help people with urgent mental health, alcohol and drug issues at Monash Medical Centre, St Vincent’s, Royal Melbourne, Geelong, Sunshine and Frankston hospitals.

They said that while not a total solution, it was a welcome step to help members and we encourage further consultation on this issue. The purpose is to divert mental health patients or those with addictions away from emergency department waiting rooms to receive specialised care. It is envisaged security personnel and not police will supervise these patients. The Victorian Government has confirmed that part of the intention is to reduce the extent of ramping and freeing up police from the responsibility of looking after mental health patients for lengthy periods of time.

The Police Association of Tasmania has been calling for solutions to this problem for a number of years now. Police officers need to be removed from hospital emergency departments (unless extraordinary circumstances exist) and returned to their other duties. Importantly this would also result in a more humane treatment of mentally ill people and hopefully faster medical attention to their needs. Gavin Cashion is acting president of the Police Association of Tasmania. Lifeline on 13 11 14 has 24-hour support.