Examining How Police Respond to People Experiencing Mental Distress in Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis joins a growing body of research interrogating the role of police as default responders to people experiencing mental distress. There has been little research into how interactions between police and people experiencing mental distress occur in Aotearoa New Zealand and how the preventative operating model of the New Zealand Police is interpreted by police officers in this context.

Two bodies of data informed this research. The first was generated through interviews with four people who had lived experience of interacting with the police while in mental distress. The second was generated through an ethnographic case study of policing (including ride-alongs, focus groups, and interviews) in Christchurch, a city that has experienced multiple unprecedented traumatic events. Frontline officers and officers working on specialist teams were included.

The findings informed by people with lived experience were analysed inductively. This led to the identification of nine domains in the data: ‘threats, coercion, and force’, ‘intimidation and fear’, ‘demeanour of the police’, ‘involuntary contact with the mental health system’, ‘support’, ‘information’, ‘who you interact with and who you are’, ‘loss of faith in the police’, and ‘envisaging improvements’. These domains predominantly spoke to traumatic and negative experiences with the police. One participant had positive experiences with the police, however, she reflected that this may have been due to her privilege.

The findings informed by the case study of policing were analysed using thematic analysis. This led to the development of one overarching theme: tension. Conceptually, tension centred around participants’ and others’ mismatched expectations about the role of police (in responding to people experiencing mental distress and more broadly). Four types of expectations were discussed by participants: participants’ expectations about the role of police, participants’ expectations of health services, the organisation’s expectations of officers on the ground, and the public’s expectations of the police. Additionally, tension arose from conflicting views among participants. Tension also referred to the challenges that officers experienced in their day-to-day work responding to people experiencing mental distress. The challenges discussed by participants were a grey zone created by legislation, their training, features of the New Zealand Police organisation, and the post-disaster context of Christchurch.

Comparing the findings from both participant groups led to a strong consensus that the role of police in responding to people experiencing mental distress needs to be reduced, for the sake of police and citizens alike. People experiencing mental distress are having traumatic experiences with the police, and police are finding themselves strained by an unbounded role. The thesis offers several ways of streamlining the role of police: through a co-response model, the development of non-police response models, and investment away from the police force and into mental well-being. Where police do remain involved in these responses, their training must reinforce ways of interacting with citizens to mitigate their distress and conceptualise this as a form of prevention.