New South Wales police are looking to replace a program designed to provide “person-centred, trauma-informed care” to people with severe mental health challenges despite the police minister describing it as “so successful”.
Under the Police, Ambulance, Clinical, Early, Response (Pacer) program, mental health clinicians employed by NSW Health are stationed with police to ensure police powers are only used when necessary in responding to mental health crises.
While the police minister, Yasmin Catley, has lauded the program, the force has disclosed it is looking at alternatives to the scheme in its response to a landmark Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report.
The LECC’s report found almost half of the people involved in critical incidents with NSW police over the past five years were experiencing a mental health crisis. Critical incidents were defined as those resulting in serious injury or death.
In their response to the report, released on Monday, the police said they were “in the very early stages of exploring an alternative to the current Pacer program”.
“This issue will only be addressed with the responsibility for the appropriate management of those with mental health issues being returned to NSW health services,” the response said.
Police said they were looking at “preparing a holistic training package for all” officers but were “concerned that by adopting any changes, NSW police officers rather than trained medical professionals will be relied upon as subject experts as responders to persons suffering a mental health crisis”.
The stance appeared at odds with Catley, who was last week talking up the Pacer program.
“It’s not fair to expect police to carry the burden of mental health calls. That’s why the Pacer program is so successful,” Catley said last week.
“It’s resulted in significant time saved for both police and ambulance first responders and reduced pressure on emergency departments.”
Catley on Wednesday would not explain the discrepancy between her comments and the police’s shift away from Pacer.
A spokesperson for Catley said Pacer had resulted in a 48% reduction in people detained by police under the Mental Health Act when a mental health clinician attended a job with an officer.
Asked to comment, the mental health minister, Rose Jackson, said there had been a “shift in the prevalence and type of mental illness and as such a new response is required”.
“I am talking with the ministry of health about exploring new models or improved programs to ensure we’re providing people with high-quality care while ensuring the safety of first responders,” she said.
Jackson said the Pacer program would continue until 2025 under current funding arrangements.
Pacer was first trialled by the St George Mental Health Service and local police in 2018. In 2020 the Coalition government funded an expansion of the program with the intention of employing 36 clinicians across 12 police area commands.
There has been heightened attention on the use of force within the police after a 47-year-old woman died when bean bag rounds fired by officers during a siege in Newcastle last week penetrated her chest and hit her heart.
Krista Kach’s death was believed to be the first fatality in NSW caused by bean bag rounds and the use of the ammunition, which is intended to be “non-lethal”, has now been temporarily suspended.
Speaking about the incident on Tuesday, the acting police commissioner, David Hudson, said that when it came to mental health incidents, “showing up in uniform … can escalate a situation rather than de-escalate it”.
On Wednesday, the senior Nationals MP Bronnie Taylor, who was the NSW mental health minister when the Pacer pilot was expanded, described it as a “roaring success” and called on the government to fund further expansion.
Kach was the fourth person killed by police while experiencing a mental health crisis in NSW in as many months.
The NSW Greens are pushing for a parliamentary inquiry into police responses to vulnerable people.
The Greens justice spokesperson, Sue Higginson, said the Pacer rollout was “completely unclear” and reform was needed.
The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, did not completely rule out supporting the inquiry, but said “the focus has to be on supporting police”, including a further rollout of the Pacer scheme.
In its response to the LECC’s report, the police supported four of the watchdog’s recommendations, supported three others in part or “in principle” and rejected two.
