the podcast on
There's听a big story, a big call,听that's听been made by the Metropolitan Police in the UK.
It鈥檚 pretty dramatic on the face of it.听The police chief there has announced that the Metropolitan Police in the UK will no longer attend emergency calls听related to mental health incidents.听
It's听not just an advisory;听it's听an order by the chief to their officers not to attend the thousands of calls that police get every year to deal with mental health issues.
There are two essential reasons given.
One is that in sending police听instead of medical professionals, those in a mental health crisis听are being failed,听and not getting the right people to听assist听them. And secondly, the failure听to听the public, in general,听and the听huge amount of time that it takes away from the police from the essential duties they have in solving and preventing crime, as well as dealing with the victims of crime.
And one of the stats there,听which I imagine is quite comparable to听here, is听it takes about 14 hours to deal with the mental health patient and hand them over to people who are better qualified to look after them.
Now, look, it听doesn't听take much of听a听stretch of the imagination to see that this issue has听likely inevitable听parallels with New Zealand.听听
If听I had a relative who was having a mental health crisis and needed help, I'm actually not sure where I'd turn, especially in the wee small hours.听
Maybe with听the challenges that we have with law and order, it is time for us听to听follow suit and be a bit more听hard-nosed听about this and make the same call and let the police get on with their job.
And what is their job?听Dealing with crime.
Let听them look after dealing with crime, preventing听crime听and dealing with the victims听of crime. 听
You听don't听have to look too far, of course, to see that听we鈥檙e听obviously听we're听not doing well on that. Another $11 million from the听Government for fog cannon when听it's听not听stopping some people being robbed.听
So is it time for us to make the same call and let the police get on with the job that they're trained for? But then how do we handle our mental health patients?听
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