The United Kingdom and New Zealand are worth contrasting when it comes to policing and mental health. To the extent I’ve tried to find out, they are the only two countries who restrict their police service to legally intervening in a mental health crisis to public places. Section 136 Mental Health Act 1983 (England / Wales) – or MHA hereafter – and section 109 Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992 (New Zealand) – or MH(CAT)A hereafter – both prevent use of that power in private dwellings. I’ve looked at various countries’ and states’ legislation over many years and still can’t find anywhere else that does this.
It was interesting to note, therefore, a case in New Zealand in 2017 where officers detained a suicidal man in his own home, remove him to a police station to ensure his safety and arrange a mental health assessment. Some seven hours later, mental health professionals arrived and assessed the man who was not subsequently admitted to hospital. He made a complaint against the police, investigated by the Independent Police Conduct Authority who found that what the officers did was ‘unlawful but reasonable’, which is an interesting paradox to wrap your head around. The officers faced no action for their unlawful behaviour, the IPCD noting legislation assumed mental health professionals would always be the responders to mental health crisis, but in reality they were unable to ensure this.
Like everywhere in the developed world, New Zealand over-relies upon its police service as a de facto mental health care provider and it’s not hard to find examples of the police criminalising vulnerable people or reports about New Zealand’s prison system being over-used to ‘house’ or accommodate those of us living with mental health problems, not in receipt of adequate support and who were then arrested and prosecuted for the commission of offences, often comparably minor offences.
RCRP INTERNATIONAL
It’s therefore no surprise to find New Zealand appears to be adopting the “Right Care, Right Person” approach to policing and mental health. There’s
- Earlier this year, the New Zealand Herald reported the police were preparing to pull back from mental health calls and this was causing safety fears amongst healthcare staff.
- It was also reported they were intending to pull back from ‘family harm’ calls.
- As we have seen the UK, there are now reports the police have started this approach early, quietly and informally with healthcare staff claiming to have been hurt, already.
- As in the United Kingdom, it’s also become politicised with the New Zealand policing minister stating other agencies “must step up”.
In New Zealand a Duly Authorised Officer (DAO) is the legal equivalent of an Approved Mental Health Professional in England / Wales, or an Approved Social Worker in Northern Ireland or Mental Health Officer in Scotland. In NZ law, they have a legal right under s41 MH(CAT)A to call to their assistance a police officer where they are undertaking legal functions under certain specific parts of the Act. The constable called is then empowered to do a variety of things: from entering the premises – with or sometimes without a warrant – to removing the person from the premises in some circumstances and in both scenarios, they may hold that person for up to 6hrs to allow the DAO to undertake their legal functions.
This is all called “section 41 assistance” – and a spokesperson for healthcare professionals in Wellington, Grant Brookes who is also a mental health nurse, claims they are seeing refusal to undertake s41 requests unless there is an “immediate risk to life“. You’ll obviously recognise this phrase – it’s the RCRP threshold for intervention in non-crime related mental health incidents and unfortunately within the UK, there is evidence this legal term is not well understood. I’ve written about that elsewhere.
But the over-arching concern which seems to have ministerial support in New Zealand as it did in the UK prior to the 2024 General Election, is that the police should be reserved to the undertaking of functions they alone can complete, because of skills or legal powers, etc.. Mr Brookes alludes to difficulties in Emergency Departments as police officers now withdraw from there in under 60-minutes which had initially been an aspiration to work towards over several years. Of course, the tragic irony is, where the police have withdrawn and matters escalate to the point where healthcare staff are assaulted, there is now a crime to deal with.
COMPARE / CONTRAST
So it looks like RCRP has gone international, coming as it does a few years after the United Kingdom started rolling out this approach which began in Humberside. The desire to cut back on non-crime related work may be leading to at least some crime and given the stated keenness of the police to focus on crime, I hope to see some evidence at some point from either the UK or NZ that police officers will take more seriously the crime consequences of inadequate therapeutic safety and dignity for those of us in mental health crisis.
This has always been one of the strategic risks with RCRP:
It seeks to “do something” about the over-involvement of the police in mental health related crisis demand without mentioning something else I’ve written about for years: the under-involvement in mental health related crime where those of us involved are affected by our mental health and where we see under-investigation and under-prosecution of offences, especially so where the victims of those offences are professional healthcare staff. I don’t know the NZ figures, but the last time I saw UK data, a full 70% of all violence against NHS staff was violence within the mental health sector.
Very much worth thinking more about, if you’re intending to pull back from mental health crisis incidents and leave more of it to people who simply do not have the legal powers to deal with it safely.
Winner of the President’s Medal, the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Winner of the Mind Digital Media Award
All opinions expressed are my own – they do not represent the views of any organisation.
(c) Michael Brown, 2024
I am not a police officer.
I try to keep this blog up to date, but inevitably over time, amendments to the law as well as court rulings and other findings from inquests and complaints processes mean it is difficult to ensure all the articles and pages remain current. Please ensure you check all legal issues in particular and take appropriate professional advice where necessary.
Government legislation website – www.legislation.gov.uk
Mental Health Cop 