Police negotiators provide leadership and expertise in the de-escalation and resolution of critical incidents, including responding to individuals exhibiting suicidal behaviour. This study describes the frequency and characteristics of suicide-related negotiation incidents in Queensland, Australia as classified in the Queensland Police Service Negotiator Deployment Database, between 2012 and 2014. Incidents were analysed to understand the individuals involved and precipitating factors including mental health problems and intoxication with alcohol or drugs. Police negotiators were deployed to 156 suicide intervention incidents over a 3-year period, half of which occurred at a residence. The cohort had a median age of 32 years and were predominantly male (82%). Four out of five individuals appeared to have a mental health problem, and at least half were intoxicated due to drugs or alcohol. Findings highlight the importance of strong linkages between police, health and social services and the need for innovative and comprehensive, cross-agency programmes.

Individuals with a mental illness may be particularly vulnerable during police interviews. Assessing fitness for police interview is vital for ensuring procedural fairness. This article reports the findings of a retrospective review of 31 police interviews of mentally ill persons charged with murder (n = 18) or attempted murder (n = 13) who appeared before the Queensland Mental Health Court. Police interviews were conducted for all murder and 50% of attempted murder cases. Possible or overt mental illness symptoms were present in all interviews. Symptoms of mental illness were pervasive in 36.7% of interviews, intermittent in 43.3% of interviews and seldom in 20% of interviews. Support persons were present for 9.7% of interviews, and legal representation was not present for any interview. These findings highlight the need to enhance access to support persons during interviews. Intersectoral collaboration between mental health services, forensic medical officers, police, public guardians and the legal sector is needed.

International research suggests that problematic approaches and attacks on politicians are frequently perpetrated by individuals with severe mental illness who are either unknown to mental health services or who have disengaged from care. The current study investigated the extent of harassing behaviours towards Queensland State Parliamentarians and of perceived mental illness in their harassers. An anonymous survey was sent to all 89 Queensland Members of Parliament exploring a range of harassment behaviours. Responses were received from 48% of parliamentarians, 93% of whom reported at least one form of harassment. The most common intrusions were alarming behaviour at the electoral office and inappropriate correspondence or telephone calls, but threats to harm and attempted or actual physical assault were also reported. Almost half the perpetrators were thought to be mentally ill. These findings support a role for mental health intervention in managing risk to politicians and catalysing care for those who pursue them.