New South Wales Police shot and killed a 49-year-old man on Darkinjung land in the Central Coast town of Springfield at 3.30pm on January 7.
The killing of a civilian having a mental health episode is just one such death among many since 2023, making it a key justice issue.
NSW Police said that officers went to the scene with a mental health clinician. The man was said to be “armed” with several items, including something spikey that he swung at them. Police used pepper spray and a taser and he retreated into his home.
The police said they cordoned off the property and police negotiators and the Tactical Operations Regional Support Unit were called in. At around 9.25pm the man lit an aerosol can and police entered his home to restrain him. When he allegedly tried and failed to stab an officer with a shard of glass, he was shot.
Police did not explain why tactical police busted into the home of a man having a mental health episode, as he was not posing a threat to anyone.
The same question was asked at a recent coronial inquiry into a similar police killing of a person, during a mental health check on the NSW Central Coast, in July 2019.
The alternative to police being first responders to mental health incidents is well known.
NSW Police has indicated it does want an alternative first responders to mental health crises model, while Labor has only recently undertaken a community consultation regarding alternative approaches to how Triple 0 calls for mental health emergencies are handled.
Lessons not learnt
“Once again, we are seeing a police-led response to a mental health crisis end in tragedy,” said National Justice Project chief executive George Newhouse.
“I was hoping that after the death of Todd McKenzie, this brutal use of force against people in a mental health crisis would end. The coroner made clear recommendations to stop anyone else from losing their life in this way.”
Police were called out to respond to 40-year-old McKenzie at his home on Biripi land in Taree in July 2019. McKenzie locked himself in his home and there was a nine-hour siege.
Local police knew about McKenzie’s health situation, yet they verbally taunted him, prior to tactical police storming the house and shooting him three times in the back. He was “armed” with kitchen utensils.
The National Justice Project represented McKenzie’s family at the inquest. NSW coroner Harriet Grahame found in her April 2024 coronial inquiry report that McKenzie’s death had been preventable and that the police operations had been flawed.
Grahame made three recommendations, including that tactical police officers must switch on their body-worn cameras during such operations, that police officers’ mental health training be reviewed, and that records are kept when considering the use of a consultant psychiatrist.
“The question today is whether those lessons have been learned and whether the NSW Police Force has implemented the coroner’s recommendations in full,” Newhouse said.
Deadly first responders
The NSW police incident report for the man killed in January noted that more than one officer had discharged a firearm, while the man was attempting to stab an officer with a piece of glass. However, NSW Assistant Commissioner David Waddell later said the officers’ protective clothing had deflected the improvised weapon. The man was treated by paramedics but died at the scene.
Waddell later declared a critical incident and the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad is investigating the fatality. The inquiry will be reviewed by the NSW Police Professional Standards Command and oversight will be done by the NSW Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
In terms of critical incidents, the NSW independent police watchdog, the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, monitors police investigating police.
There were five police killings between May 2023 and January 2024 that were likely mental health-related.
The fatal tasering of 95-year-old Clare Nowland who was suffering dementia, in May 2023 brought the issue to a head because it sent shock waves across the community. A young officer tasered an elderly woman, who had to use a walking frame and was holding a knife.
The NSW parliament mental health access inquiry in June 2024 found that police as first responders to mental health incidents actually escalate them.
NSW Police undertook an inquiry in April that year, that also found that officers are perceived as a threat and their presence heightens tensions at these situations.
Last July, on Gadigal land in Waterloo, police officers turned up to check on Collin Burling who they then restrained to death, while his partner filmed the incident from above.
Alternative first responders
The consultation to develop a new way of responding to emergency calls for people suffering mental health crises closed on December 2 last year.
NSW Labor said it is seeking to ensure that “people experiencing a mental health emergency get the right help, at the right time and from the right service”.
This hints at the London Metropolitan police having adopted the Right Care, Right Person model in late 2023. This involves an alternative Triple 1 emergency number, that avoids police involvement in any response to a mental health crisis.
The NSW Police review and the NSW parliamentary inquiry have recommended the British model be considered.
“The key recommendation of this review is that the NSWPF work with NSW Health to explore models for responding to mental health incidents in NSW consistent with the principles of the ‘Right Care, Right Person’ model,” the NSW Police report on responses to mental health incidents in the community said in April 2024.
[Paul Gregoire writes for Sydney Criminal Lawyers where this article was first published.]