People experiencing mental health crisis should receive health-led support, yet too often police become the default responders because of long-standing systemic gaps in the NSW mental health system. Mental Health Coordinating Council’s submission calls for urgent reform to make health-led, trauma-informed responses the standard across NSW.

What it’s about

Mental Health Coordinating Council (MHCC) has made a submission to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) on Mental health and policing interactions in NSW. We support reform that makes health-led, trauma-informed and least restrictive responses the standard approach. Police should only be involved when there is a serious and imminent risk to life or safety.

Our submission draws attention to the systemic gaps that too often leave police as the default responders to people experiencing mental distress. It also outlines the risks this can create for people in crisis, and the need for stronger investment in community-based alternatives, safer handover pathways and reform led by lived experience.

Above all, we want the review to centre the dignity, safety and rights of people experiencing mental distress. It must lead to practical changes that reduce escalation, trauma, injury and avoidable deaths.

Background

The LECC consultation and review on mental health and policing in NSW comes after sustained concern about deaths, serious injuries and trauma linked to police responses to people experiencing mental health distress. Critical incidents, coronial scrutiny, media reporting and parliamentary inquiry findings have all pointed to the same problem: police are too often drawn into mental health crises because the mental health system is under-resourced and too heavily focused on crisis response.

There is now growing recognition that police should not be the default responders when someone is in mental health distress. Recent deaths during police responses have made the need for change even more urgent. The NSW Government has acknowledged this issue through the development of a Memorandum of Understanding (a formal agreement between agencies that sets out how they will work together) between NSW Health and NSW Police for responding to mental health incidents.

Why this matters

• People experiencing mental health crisis are too often met by police rather than health-led responses.
• Police involvement can increase someone’s distress, fear and trauma.
• Current crisis pathways rely too heavily on police, ambulance and emergency departments.
• Police training alone cannot fix a structural problem caused by gaps in the mental health system. Reform must reduce unnecessary police contact, not simply improve police responses.
• Community-managed mental health, psychosocial, outreach and after-hours supports must be available at the scale people need.
• Police are often called where no crime has occurred and no serious safety risk is present. In some cases, the response itself can escalate the situation and increase the risk of hospitalisation or contact with the criminal justice system.
• Certain communities face greater risks of coercive, criminalising or culturally unsafe responses.
• People with lived experience, families and carers must be central to reform design and evaluation.
• Reform must reduce police attendance, use of force, unnecessary apprehension and repeat crisis contact.
• A health-led response reflects best practice because mental health crisis is primarily a health and psychosocial issue, not a law enforcement matter. It enables earlier assessment, de-escalation, least restrictive care, and safer referral to ongoing community support.

Key issues

• Community-managed organisations are key partners in mental health crisis responses, but they are often left out of planning, handover and follow-up.
• When community supports are underfunded, people in distress are more likely to come into contact with police, ambulance or emergency departments.
• Referral pathways into community services are often inconsistent, unclear and difficult to access.
• Community-managed organisations need sustainable funding, clear protocols and access to clinical backup so they can support safer, health-led crisis reform.

Our recommendations

1. Make health-led crisis responses the default.
2. Limit police involvement to situations where there is a serious and imminent threat to life or safety.
3. Strengthen scrutiny of force used in mental health-related incidents.
4. Require specialised, ongoing police training for high-risk incidents.
5. Embed trauma-informed, person-centred and culturally safe practice.
6. Build training into supervision, day-to-day practice and evaluation.
7. Strengthen interagency protocols and handover pathways.
8. Centre lived experience in reform design and evaluation.
9. Expand and fund community-based crisis alternatives.
10. Invest in community-managed mental health and psychosocial supports.
11. Establish a formal evaluation process after two years, with ongoing review every five years.

What happens next

LECC will consider the submissions received through its public consultation process. The review is expected to inform future recommendations on how police respond to people experiencing mental health crisis. NSW Health and NSW Police are also expected to finalise a new agreement on responses to mental health incidents.

There is currently no confirmed date for the publication of LECC’s findings or recommendations. MHCC will continue to monitor the process and keep members informed.