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Addicts to lecture cops on psychosis
Simon Kearney
January 09, 2007
ICE addicts would lecture police on how to deal with their violent mood swings under a proposal to be put to state, federal and territory police commissioners.
A course being developed by NSW Assistant Commissioner Dave Owens would also involve police being lectured by the mentally ill to avoid the triggers that provoke violence.
Working in conjunction with Victorian colleagues, Mr Owens is preparing to brief the commissioners in March on a proposal inspired by a course used by police in Chicago, suffering a crime wave fuelled by ice, the street name for crystal methamphetamine.
Mr Owens told The Australian yesterday he was planning a trial of a 40-hour course for up to 20per cent of all police across the nation. "We think it will do very well, we're meeting with our Victorian counterparts and hope to combine our research and come up with a NSW and Victorian course," he said.
"You've got to look at training between 10 and 20 per cent of officers."
Fresh from a working visit to the US, he said the course would teach police to avoid the violent triggers that push the mentally vulnerable over the edge.
"We have to accept that people are going to be very different. They're not prisoners but we get left dealing with them as prisoners," he said. "It's arming the cops with a little bit more knowledge and skills. When they go to jobs they realise they need a little bit longer."
The issue of time is a central factor as police across the country face budgetary constraints.
Police Association of NSW president Bob Pritchard said in the latest edition of the union's magazine that ice had created "a perfect storm" for his officers.
He called on NSW police officers to log ice incidents with the association so it could chart the epidemic. He also called on the NSW Government to investigate creating specialist police teams to deal with the crisis created by the drug.
A report in the same issue by association researcher Sandra Soldo said an increase in violent crime was being driven by ice use and that police resources were being diverted to deal with the associated psychosis.
"This diversion in resources is preventing our members from performing their core police functions," she said.
The police union is asking for an extra 3000 police from the state Government, facing an election in March.
Assistant Health Minister Cherie Burton told ABC radio the drug was placing stress on health services as well.
"(There is) stress on our emergency departments from young people showing up there in a drug-induced psychosis, particularly as a result of using ice," she said.
Mr Owens said his training proposal would involve hospital and mental health workers, the mentally ill and police spending a week learning from each other.
The federal Opposition yesterday criticised the federal Government for its approach on getting the states to outlaw ice smoking implements.
Opposition justice spokesman Joe Ludwig said the federal Government should act to stop the import of drug paraphernalia such as ice pipes.
The Australian