Take a moment to digest the news article and try to put this in perspective, the size of a person like Mrs Nowland she was tiny, 160cms tall weighing 43kg. Basically like a child in body weight and with dementia. She needed a walking frame to support herself and hold on to as her body was frail; in order to walk very slowly and obviously she was rather weak physically. Not exactly an agile and sprightly person at 95 years old and in this condition. Remember this was at 4.30 am when the residents are asleep too in a very small nursing home. She was supposedly in her room when this happened.
Look at the size of the police officer in comparison, not exactly a delicate wee flower is he? No, he is a big solid man and with many years of experience on the job. This really distresses me reading all the things that have transpired not just in the case of poor Mrs Nowland. But all the cases of over zealous behaviour from the police in regards to dealing with people with disabilities and impairments such as mental health issues.
How many more people have to die before the police and the government get the message? This is poor policing and a lack of respect and compassion for the vulnerable people whom they are supposed to be helping. This is not good enough, the police and the government must be held accountable for each failure in these incidents. There seems to be more such incidents happening now than ever before and something must be done sooner rather than later. How many more deaths are acceptable? How many more broken families must endure this trauma?
Where is the understanding and compassion for these unfortunate people? Is there any such thing as training to put a mentally unstable person at ease, whether it is police or health care workers encountering them? If not then it is time to take care of this immediately. The public opinion is not on the side of the police when it comes to old people that are physically frail and suffering from dementia and are clearly no danger to the police whatsoever. Nor are very frail, elderly nursing home residents that lack physical agility a danger to the staff. The staff are supposed to be trained to handle patients with mental illness and other issues. I do understand that not all dementia patients are very small and frail, however if the individual is small and frail they are not a big risk. A more robust able bodied individual with dementia is obviously capable of violence and that does indeed happen and these poor souls have no idea what they are doing they won’t even remember what they did.
As for people that have mental health problems in public places or even in their own homes the police need to do better than they have been so far. These police officers have gone through extensive training for these situations. They are not just the average person encountering these vulnerable and impaired people. Yes, a person with a firearm or a knife in close proximity poses a danger but, each case must be evaluated carefully and quickly to determine the risk factors. A firearm is obviously a game changer that only leaves a very narrow margin to respond however each scenario is different. A knife on the other hand can generally be resolved without a fatal injury as is part of police training.
There must be better solutions and better strategies in regards to training police officers when responding to a situation where there is a dementia patient or a person who is going through a mental health crisis. Non lethal force and negotiation must be the first steps towards a resolution, if that doesn’t work then move to the next level of resolution. If a properly trained team of police officers cannot disarm a person with serious mental health issues without resorting to shooting or tasering then something is wrong. I would recommend longer time at the police academy providing better training and understanding of how people with mental illness and disabilities feel and act. Empathy is vital to resolving these problems, and this is by no means an easy job for the police and not something that the person going through the crisis wants to happen either, they just want help and understanding.
The confusion, anxiety, anger and depression or PTSD suffered by the individual is hard enough for the individual suffering from this condition as it is, without an insensitive police officer coming across as intimidating. The person may also be a sex abuse, domestic violence survivor, an ex- military service veteran, a person that has been through war and is suffering from traumatic events. So that adds further stress on the person and given the attitude of the police these days any dealings with the police is extremely stressful and exacerbates the situation for the person. The police seem to forget this person they are dealing with is a victim not a criminal and needs compassion and empathy.
The person is usually in the middle of a breakdown or feeling suicidal and therefore is unable to rationalise correctly. You can’t rush a person in the middle of a crisis to respond in a timely or appropriate manner, that is unrealistic and just isn’t going to happen. Instead, if confronted with a police officer that is insensitive this can stress the person and inflame the situation which results in the person being unable to understand and cooperate.
That then leads to the police officers being heavy handed and then things spiral out of control into the situations we read about in the news. This should never happen ever. It is a failure of policing and a failure in the health care system.
Lives are being destroyed by incompetent police and an equally incompetent government health care system. The legacy of this is an horrendous embarrassment and a tragedy that never heals.
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