Police too slow to act on 111 calls
Police have admitted they could have responded faster to 111 calls from a Northland woman before her mentally ill son stabbed her.
An Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) report has found that police should have responded faster to two 111 calls made by the woman on October 26, 2015.
The woman, from Omapere, was later stabbed by her son. She was flown to hospital and survived the attack.
The IPCA found that police should have attended after the first 111 call and that the NorthComms dispatcher should have passed on all of the relevant information from this call to the field supervisor before it was decided it was unnecessary to dispatch the on-call officer to attend the incident.
The report also said that police should not have closed the event without advising the woman of their decision not to attend.
The IPCA completed its investigations into the 111 calls in September 2016, with the report released yesterday, after related court proceedings finished in March.
‘‘We should have acted with greater urgency and should not have delayed our response,’’ Communication Centres national manager Superintendent Dave Trappitt said.
‘‘We also share the IPCA’s view that if police had attended the address sooner, the stabbing may have been avoided.
‘‘Police have sincerely apologised to the victim for the way in which we responded to her calls.’’
Trappitt said valuable lessons had been learnt. Several steps had been taken by police since the event, including a full review of the incident from the perspective of policy practice and procedures.
The first 111 call was made at 6am. The woman said her son, who had a history of mental health problems and was known to police, was behaving erratically and had pushed her, the report said.
Police put the event ‘‘on hold’’ until a pre-existing Mental Health Crisis Team appointment was held at 10am.
At 10.43am, the woman called 111 a second time to say the Crisis Team would not take her son away because it did not consider him sick enough. She told police she feared for her safety and did not want her son in the house.
"If police had attended the address sooner, the stabbing may have been avoided." Communication Centres national manager Superintendent Dave Trappitt
Two officers in Omapere were due to attend once inquiries had finished on another matter, when at 11.15am, a third 111 call revealed the woman had been stabbed by her son. The IPCA found no issue with the third 111 call.
Communication Centres has reviewed and updated its standard operating practices requiring constant risk assessment of events under action.
There is also ongoing work to ensure police and mental health services across New Zealand coordinate their response to the community, police said.
A district court judge found the man was legally insane when the stabbing occurred. He was later detained under the Mental Health Act.