Mike Johnson: Police Assistant Commissioner on police delaying rollout of mental health callout changes

The second phase of police withdrawal from mental health callouts starts in parts of the country next week. 

From Monday, detained mental health patients will be handed over within 60 minutes at Waitematā, Counties Manukau, Waikato, Nelson-Marlborough, and West Coast EDs. 

Police will also tighten custody rules to reduce unnecessary assessments. 

Assistant Commissioner Mike Johnson says police will make sure handovers are done safely. 

"We want our police staff to be out dealing with the issues that the public are expecting - and keeping people safe." 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So from Monday, this is to update you on stuff
the police are doing. From Monday, police in Auckland, Wycuto
and Tasman will only stay with people that have been
detained under the Mental Health Act for a maximum of
an hour sixty minutes once they're in an ed in
a hospital. If a person in custody is placed under
the Mental Health Act, they have to be transported to

(00:20):
a health facility within thirty minutes. The Assistant Commissioner for
Police is Mike Johnson. He's looking me on the show tonight, Mike,
good to have you here. So how will the handover
work when someone's been sectioned, you're with them an ned?
How does it work?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
How does it work? Well, we take a person exhibiting
mental health signs to A and E and or the
appropriate plate and from the time that we are in
enter A and E, WE or ED if it's described,

(00:56):
we expect to be able to can that person over
as long as we can do it safely, Ryan, which
is quite an important p piece to hand over to
mental health professionals who can assess and help the person
in need.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
Right, what happens if there's no one there available in
the hour you leave.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Well, it really depends on the state of the individual.
I'd have to say, Ryan, We're never going to walk
out of the safety issues, either to police, to the public,
or to the staff who are going to do the assessment.
So is however our staff.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Is the difference then, just so weakly is the difference
then that previously you would have stayed even if they
were harmless, if there was nothing wrong, you stayed to
the bitter end because that was the policy, whereas now
you'll make more of a judgment and if the person
seems okay, you'll boost.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
It's that's absolutely the case, Okay, safe to do. So
We've got our staff for great and they deal with
these Unfortunately, with these people regularly. We want our police
on the streets and focused on call police.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
What I guess the question would be, if you've been
picking people up who are actually fine and taking them
to hospital, why have you been doing that?

Speaker 2 (02:17):
So I wouldn't say people are fine. I come back
to that definition of safety, Brian, So if people are
affected in a range of ways. I'm not a clinician,
so I'm not going to go into the details of that.
But our staff make good assessments and we do training
around mental health and care of people when we get

(02:40):
to the hospital and are in that environment often over
time that there is an ability for people to de
escalate and their behaviors in their risk.

Speaker 1 (02:50):
Are you, guys, Mike, are you happy to be not
washing your hands? And I know that's not the language
you would use, but will your frontline officers be happy
to you know, with phase one we're year not attending
as many of these call outs to begin with, and
in phase two, where you're pulling back a little bit,
are you happy to be focusing on other stuff?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
I absolutely think that we want our police start to
be out dealing with the issues that the public will
expect and keeping people safe. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Good, I think they would too, Mike. Thank you very
much that Mike Johnson, who's the Assistant commissioner at Police.
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