Chris Cahill: Police Association President on the sharp spike in mental health-related police callouts - Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

The Police Association is sounding the alarm over a spike in mental health-related callouts.

The reported figures are up 55 percent in the last 5 years, with 77,000 callouts per year connected to mental health issues.

Police Association President Chris Cahill says police are unable to keep up with this level of demand- especially with cases that aren't linked to criminal offending.

"Police are getting to a crisis level where they're simply unable to meet the demand for service, the calls for service because of the amount of work they're getting- somewhere, we've got to turn that tap off."

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