An ACU criminologist has called for more specialised negotiator training to de-escalate critical mental health crises faced by general duties police and vulnerable individuals.
Dr Matthew Morgan, a lecturer from ACU's Thomas More Law School, is leading a study into the effectiveness of a Queensland Police Service negotiator course.
The training teaches communicative de-escalation tactics that create peaceful resolution to crisis situations including suicide threats, mental health, domestic violence, and hostage situations.
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"I can't praise the negotiators enough. They have a 99.4 per cent success rate of peacefully de-escalating crisis situations," Dr Morgan said.
"They respond without weapons, without uniform. They're masters at it.
"The problem with this is there's only three fulltime negotiators across the state and a bunch of part-time ones."
Procedural handling of life-threatening situations faced by police is in focus following a series of fatal incidents, including the Bondi Junction stabbings.
The South Australian Government has announced a $13.9 million expansion of a mental health support co-responder program, to help reduce the number of presentations to hospital emergency departments and free up more SA Police for frontline duties.
First established as a trial, the program pairs a mental health clinician with a police officer to respond to mental health Triple Zero call outs.
Dr Morgan has studied co-responder models for more than a decade in Australia and the UK.
"Police, heavily armed with guns, batons, tasers, body armour ... these things don't necessarily signify peaceful intentions," he said.
"That can exacerbate an individual's mental health crisis. It's not the first person you want to see when you're in that state."
If you or someone you know is struggling:
- Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36
