Police recruits receive only eight hours of training to handle mental health calls

MARK TAYLOR / STUFF

The advocate for the rights of victims of mental illness Colin Moyle, brother of Graeme Moyle, was murdered by his mentally ill roommate. Moyle says that police resources are drained into the treatment of mental health calls. (File Photo)

Frontline officers attend an average of 98 mental health events, including suicide threats or attempts, every 24 hours.

And the brother of a man murdered by a psychiatric patient says the eight hours of training the police recruits are occupying calls to mental health, which is far from over. be enough.

In 2007, the brother of Graeme Moyle, advocate for the rights of victims of mental illness, Colin Moyle, was clubbed in the suburbs of Auckland before being burned by the former roommate Matthew Ahlquist

SHARON MURDOCH

Mental health consumers and their families say that police have become the default mental health crisis service.

Ahlquist was found not guilty of murder for insanity

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Police face an avalanche of mental health calls, but recruits only eight hours spent training on how to cope to the influx of sometimes unstable and dangerous people in crisis.

Moyle said the agents were under-trained to deal with people who often "scoffed" and did not commit any crime. The problem had become a huge problem for police resources. Meanwhile, the Department of Health mental health crisis assessment teams worked for hours, leaving the police to take over,

National Prevention Director, Superintendent Eric Tibbott, said: threatening suicide and self-harm were a global phenomenon explained by a series of competing theories. Since February, the daily number of appeals in New Zealand has gone from 94 to 98.

JARRED WILLIAMSON / STUFF

Police Minister Stuart Nash stated that the police were not supposed to be a mental health expert, but that she had to provide an initial response in emergency situations

. In February Stuff revealed that while calls to suicide had increased about 9 percent a year, a new police report showed that 111 calls for the next level of mental distress jumped 77 percent between 2009 and 2016.

The Police College was recently criticized for being too soft on recruits while earlier this month the government confirmed that funding had been reduced for a co-response service of $ 8 million that would have seen a mental health officer

PROVIDED

a good job dealing with mental health incidents, they were not mental health professionals.

Recruits receive a total of eight hours of mental health training during their sixteen weeks at the police academy, including an interactive two-hour session, two hours of mental health laws and police, as well as two two-hour sessions. practical application of legislation and policy; and experiential learning. In the five weeks following the completion of their mental health training, Tibbott reported that police work closely with mental health crisis teams and health facilities to provide the best possible response to those in distress. . Police spokesperson Chris Bishop said mental health was the sixth largest factor in police demand, and police spent about 280 hours a day responding to mental health calls throughout the country. country

they are not mental health professionals and an eight-hour training will not give them specialized skills and expertise, "said Bishop

" That's why the pilot $ 8 million co-response would have made a real difference.

Police Minister Stuart Nash stated that the police were not supposed to be a mental health expert, but that she had to provide an initial response in situations where the police were not in charge. emergency.

KEVIN STENT / STUFF

health and real learning were at work.

Police were increasingly dealing with mental health cases and resources were increasingly being sought because officer numbers were depleted under the previous government. They also faced a shortage of mental health and addiction services because of funding shortfalls in health

The new government acknowledged the problems associated with the implementation of the mental health survey

. The president of the Police Association, Chris Cahill, said that other aspects of police training were reflected in calls to mental health.

True learning is done at work, which is why new agents had a

Ideally, recruits would like more training in mental health, but the police was a " versatile job "and it would be difficult to integrate more specialized training into an already comprehensive program.

Crises and personal security should not be left to the police to deal with mental health problems, said Mr. Cahill

. – Tips and Tricks