This project is important right now because police are increasingly called to support citizens in the community who are experiencing mental distress.
Prevention First, the policy that guides police responses, identified mental health as one of six drivers of police demand. This policy directs police to practice in a preventative, victim-focused, way. However, we know from research that putting police policy into practice is challenging. Citizens who experience mental distress are more likely to be victimised, socially excluded, and when in crisis, treated coercively by police.
Recent police data also tells us that Māori continue to have less trust and confidence in police. Combined, this research suggests there are difficulties with realising the potential of preventative, victim-focused policy for Māori. In the context of policing mental health events, this is significant given that Māori are more likely to be diagnosed with mental illness, subjected to coercive mental health treatment and more likely to be arrested, charged in court and incarcerated.
However, no research exists on the experience of citizens when encountering the police while experiencing mental distress. Nor do we know how police experience responding to mental health events.
The translation of policy into practice within mental health events, therefore, poses eclectic challenges for police that remain significantly under-researched in the New Zealand context.
Whānau/citizen stories 