More non-crime jobs eat up time

The Police Commissioner expects his officers will be increasingly called upon to handle mental health crises and suicide attempts. The prediction of ‘‘noncrime’’ jobs using up more police time and resources was presented in Mike Bush’s briefing to incoming Police Minister Paula Bennett.

His comments come in the same week new data showed police have been forced to handle a roughly 30 per cent increase in attempted suicide call-outs in recent years. Police responded to just over 18,000 calls coded as ‘‘threatens/attempts suicide’’ across the country in 2015-16, up from 14,000 in 2012-13.

The briefing reinforced some themes raised in last year’s police annual report, like the amount of time officers spent on social ills and issues, including noncriminal investigations.

Multiple police sources have, in recent months, privately expressed frustration with the volume of mental health jobs police are being asked to handle.

Labour police spokesman Stuart Nash said police and corrections services were ‘‘ambulances at the bottom of the cliff’’ and the mental health system was under unacceptable strain.

‘‘We have a massive problem out here in our communities.’’

Police were too often asked to help alleviate mental health crises, without getting adequate training, he said.

In the past, too many mentally ill people were locked up, given shock treatment, and badly treated, he said. That discredited model was replaced with one that released huge numbers of people into the community.

‘‘But what we didn’t do was put the level of support out there that was needed,’’ Nash said.

Nash said a good alternative model was the Whatever It Takes Trust in Hawke’s Bay. It provided residential care facilities in the community, hired advocates to help the mentally ill, and operated ‘‘return to work’’ programmes.

This week, police assistant commissioner Dave Cliff said cops were often ‘‘first on the scene when people find themselves in difficult situations’’ and that included mental health crises.

Police were working to improve training for both constabulary and communications centre staff, he said.

On Tuesday, Police Association president Chris Cahill said increases in mental health jobs were an ‘‘indictment’’ on the mental health service, which left police to care for mentally unwell people.

The Government had pledged to hire 1125 new police staff, and police had committed to a goal of ensuring 95 per cent of Kiwis would be within 25 kilometres of patrolling officers at all times.

The Public Service Association (PSA) last month said the mental health system was ‘‘in crisis’’.

Health Minister Jonathan Coleman hit back at the claims, but acknowledged increasing demand was being placed on mental health and addiction services.