Mentally ill more likely to get shot

Rise of Black Lives Matter prompts report

Astudy of police shootings has revealed people suffering mental distress are more likely to be killed in armed encounters. And researchers are calling on authorities to collect more in-depth demographic information during investigations in a bid to ascertain whether Ma¯ori are being subject to the “most extreme use of force by police.”

They have also suggested that police take “a preventive approach” in future to better engage with mentally distressed people who are “disproportionately likely” to be subject to an armed response.

During the study – The nature of police shootings in New Zealand: A comparison of mental health and non-mental health events – researchers analysed reports of investigations carried out by the Independent Police Conduct Authority between 1995 and 2019.

It is the first time the use of firearms by police in mental healthrelated events has been researched in New Zealand.

“We extracted data relating to mental health state, demographics, setting, police response, outcome of shooting, and whether the individual was known to police, mental health services, and with a history of mental distress or drug use,” the researchers explained in the study.

“Of the 258 reports analysed, 47 (18 per cent) involved mental healthrelated events compared to 211 (82 per cent) classified as non-mental health events.”

Just over 40 per cent of those mental health events resulted in shootings, over half of which were fatal.

Researchers found that the fatal cases predominantly involved young males – but there was not enough information in the IPCA reports to establish any patterns around ethnicity.

The researchers explained the study came about after armed police responses were “thrust to the forefront of debate locally and internationally following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement”.

There was also more of an awareness of heightened risk of use of force against Ma¯ori and Pasifika peoples, and increased media attention to these issues.

“New Zealand has growing concern regarding the number of police responses to mental health-related events.”