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Speaker 1: So Police and Health New Zealand are pressing ahead with

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Speaker 1: phase three of their mental health response changes, shifting more

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Speaker 1: responsibility onto health teams and away from police, and it

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Speaker 1: means that police will no longer be involved in mental

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Speaker 1: health callouts eventually, unless there is an immediate safety risk.

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Speaker 1: So I'm joined now by Steve Watt, who is the

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Speaker 1: Police Association President GADATA.

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Speaker 2: Steve Marina.

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Speaker 1: Is this whole scheme working the slow withdrawal?

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Speaker 2: Look, it absolutely is and it's a good news story

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Speaker 2: for not only our members but members of the public

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Speaker 2: and also those that are suffering from mental health issues

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Speaker 2: about getting the response that they need, which is mental

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Speaker 2: health clinicians. And that's alleviating the pressure being put on

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Speaker 2: place so we can spend more time out there doing

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Speaker 2: what we do best.

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Speaker 1: The fear is that we're going to end out with

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Speaker 1: some people being left behind.

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Speaker 2: Are they No, not at all, And that's why this

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Speaker 2: has been a phased approach to allow Health New Zealand

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Speaker 2: to head the services of bail so that as we

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Speaker 2: slowly withdraw from this mental health arena, the services are

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Speaker 2: in place so that no one's getting left behind.

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Speaker 1: Our officers relieved at the changes.

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Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely you know, it frees up roughly half a

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Speaker 2: million police hours each year that we're spent responding to

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Speaker 2: mental health call outs. So that's time that can be

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Speaker 2: better spent elsewhere within the community doing what we do best.

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Speaker 1: So what happens the first time someone harms himself and

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Speaker 1: police weren't there to respond. Do you think that responsibility

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Speaker 1: should rely on the police?

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Speaker 2: No? Look, we'll always turn up to those jobs where

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Speaker 2: life is in danger or being threatened, so there's no

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Speaker 2: you know, there's a reduced risk that we are still

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Speaker 2: there to respond to those jobs that require us.

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Speaker 1: All right, And police are now not automatically involved in

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Speaker 1: missing persons from mental health facilities, So how does that

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Speaker 1: pose a risk to the community.

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Speaker 2: No, not at all, look, and it's not actually withdrawing

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Speaker 2: from that. There's still a process in place where those

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Speaker 2: missing persons from mental health can be reported to us.

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Speaker 2: We'll make an assessment as to whether our services are

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Speaker 2: required or not, so there is still the ability there

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Speaker 2: to have police respond in those circumstances.

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Speaker 1: All right, Well, Steve, carry on with the good work,

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Speaker 1: and I thank you for your time today. Steve, what

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Speaker 1: is the Association? The Police Association President? For more from

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Speaker 1: Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

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Speaker 2: Listen live to News Talks at B from five am weekdays,

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Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio