Northland police delay withdrawal from mental health callouts

Police are introducing a phased plan to reduce service to mental health call outs to relieve demand pressures. Photo / 123rf

• Police withdrawal from mental health call-outs in Northland is delayed to ensure a smooth transition.
• Mental health advocates urge a halt to the withdrawal until alternative crisis response services are established.
• Concerns are raised about the impact on rural communities and the potential for “real tragedies”.

The police withdrawal from responding to mental health callouts has been delayed in Northland.

But mental health advocates want the nationwide withdrawal to stop completely so services are prepared for the gap left by the police.

Police last year introduced higher thresholds for attending mental health call-outs to relieve demand pressures and prioritise events where there was an immediate threat to life and safety.

Phase one involved police drawing back on time spent escorting voluntary mental health patients and attending incidents at mental health facilities.

Phase two – which was initially due to happen from January to March – aimed for 60-minute handovers in Emergency Departments unless there was a risk to life and safety.

Waitematā, Counties Manukau, Waikato and Tasman (excluding Kaikōura) were undergoing phase two.

Other districts, including Northland, were working towards the next phase.

A police spokesperson said they were working with Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora to ensure each region’s readiness before further change, hence the staggered process.

“We don’t want to rush the process because we need to make sure everyone is confident in the changes and we can keep people safe.”

Police data showed that between February 2024 and February 2025, police attended 1471 mental health-related call-outs in the Whangārei area, and 853 in the Far North.

Mental Health Foundation chief executive Shaun Robinson said an alternative crisis response service had to be in place before the withdrawal process continued.

“We don’t think that police are the best people to be responding to a mental health crisis issue, but at the moment, they do respond to [about] 70,000 a year.”

Shaun Robinson of the Mental Health Foundation.

He felt the transition process was moving at “undue haste”.

Robinson was concerned the changes could lead to “real tragedies”.

“We are talking about people who can be very unwell, very distressed, and if support is not made available in a timely way, that can lead to death.”

Police said working alongside Health NZ aimed to achieve a smooth transition without unintended consequences.

“We are committed to working with Health NZ towards a system that supports everyone’s mental wellbeing, so people are supported to stay well, and have access to help that works for them.”

Robinson pointed out rural communities in Northland could be particularly affected by the withdrawal.

“In rural and isolated communities, those services need to co-operate and collaborate, there’s no other way to cover a population that might be so dispersed.”

He said there had already been some instances of people calling mental health crisis teams who were redirected by emergency lines back to mental health teams.

“It goes in a circle, and they’re left with no support, and that’s really what we’re trying to avoid.”

Police said the new threshold clarifies the police’s role by ensuring they are only involved where an offence has been identified or there is an immediate risk to life or safety.

“The calls are triaged through a risk framework where they are given a priority response level. This level determines the police response.”

Many mental health-related calls were resolved on the phone, they said.

“Matters that fall short of this threshold will not be attended by police or will be directed to a more appropriate service.

“Guiding our response, the threshold will be applied to each phase as they are implemented.”

New Zealand Nurses Organisation mental health chairwoman Helen Garrick said people in rural areas faced long travel distances for help.

Garrick worried whānau and friends who call for support to get their loved one to the hospital may not receive it promptly.

“In the past, mental health nurses in particular have relied upon police to assist them to get into an environment like a house.”

Garrick said having to travel long distances with a mentally distressed person was a very unsafe situation.

She was concerned about the impacts of the withdrawal on people in mental distress, their whānau and the mental health workforce.

New Zealand Nurses Organisation mental health nurses section chair Helen Garrick.

Withdrawing police from aid would also place extra pressure on an under-resourced area, she said.

Garrick felt the process needed to be paused until a larger mental health workforce was in place and more purpose-built facilities.

She also said there have been reports that police had refused to attend despite mental health workers’ concerns and felt the analysis of risk should sit with mental health specialists.

Police said emergency and 105 calls were triaged through a risk framework.

That could include being sent from call takers to the “early mental health response” line.

“Calls from a mental health worker would be received into this system, the relevant information gathered from them to determine the risk, and it is prioritised accordingly.”

“Police have always, and will always, respond when there is an immediate risk to life or safety. This will not change.”

Brodie Stone covers crime and emergency for the Northern Advocate. She has spent most of her life in Whangārei and is passionate about delving into issues that matter to Northlanders and beyond.