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marc6x
Contributor

Afraid of the Australian Police

Hi, I'm Marc. I've been an involuntary mental health client in Australia for 14 years, with what I believe is a misdiagnosis or overdiagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia.

 

Fourteen years ago, police entered the home where I was living in with my parents and arrested me, bringing me into hospital without explanation. To this day, I suffer the traumatic effects of that arrest and the subsequent troubles that I have had with police, including assault charges, police confinement and involuntary drugging. Since that day I've been involuntarily hospitalised on 20 occasions and been itinerant for many years in my efforts to escape the system.

I've tried very hard to find a solicitor to represent me in litigation against the police forces, but they are too powerful and protected. Even today, every time there is a disturbance outside my apartment, I am afraid that the police will break in and enter my premises. I am keen to get a court order against them, but nonesuch exists. This remains one of my major problems today. Can you provide advice or assistance to my cause?

10 REPLIES 10

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

@marc6x  Hi marc6x and welcome to the forum. I have schizoaffective disorder and one of my pet hates is authority figures specifically the police. I feel threatened by their presence and believe the whole system is corrupt to its core. I don't know what you can do about it though other than keep your head down.....

 

Maybe @Appleblossom  might have some ideas on who and where you can turn to. I will be interested in what others have to say about this post. Take care greenpea

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Hello @marc6x 

You have certainly been through a lot of trauma, which would not help your mood or personal sense of security..

 

There are some disability legal services that may be able to help you, but I am not sure what is possible.  Depends on your location, maybe capital city ??

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Yes thank you I will keep my head down!

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Yes thank you, I have been suggested to contact hrca.org.au and others. I live in Brisbane, Q.

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

@marc6x  i am so sorry you have had this experience. sadly mine seems to be fairly similar only for me the police were kinder to me than the mental health professionals at the other end. still there isnt an avenue legally that i have found to stop authorities from doing these things. if you are detained for a crime you didnt commit there is legal things you can do but mental health does not have the same protections even though it should and in some ways need those protections more so than others. i still dont understand how they can justify detaining someone for mental health agaisnt their will when they have commited no crime and when the actual doctors who make these claims have no tangible medical evidence of any actual health issue. it is essentially like saying to someone i have observed you look sick today i have taken to tests to determine the problem however i am now going to force you to have surgery because in my un evidenced based opinion you need an operation. no other medical feild can force treatment upon the patient and yet other medical feild actually have proof the patient is sick. still the only way i have found to even feel remotely "safe" from them (even though i understand you may never feel truly safe) is to keep your head down and not do anything that gives them even the slightest reason to do anything. i find it also helps if you do normal looking things and pretend to be a functioning member of society then if they ask how thing are you have your own backing for why they should leave you alone. still this is a horrible thing to have to deal with and i am so sorry you are dealing with it.  

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

The Royal Commission Into Disabilities is going ahead. They are taking submissions from the public next week. Your complaint would be the sort of information they would be interested in. See if you can find some community organization in your area who would help you to put your experiences down on paper and send it to the appropriate place. Try legal aid or a crime prevention group.

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Hi Marc6x,

I am also afraid of the police and do not want them to attend to me in a mental health crisis as I am afraid of how they might treat me. As I don't want the police to attend I have had to be very aware of when I am going downhill mentally and seek alternative help that does not involve the police. Unfortunately this is very difficult to do as for many people, such as Lifeline or mental health professionals, if they have any concerns for your safety they will call the police to request a welfare check. This seems to give police rights to break into your house to check on you. If you can try to find alternative forms of support that do not involve the police it could be useful to utilise those.

One time recently I was feeling mentally unwell and wanted to get some help. As I knew that if I expressed my concerns to lifeline they would likely call the police to my house, I chose to drive to an isolated spot before calling lifeline, so the police would not be able to find me. The lifeline person calmed me a little and convinced me to drive directly to the hospital to seek help - thus avoiding the police. The nurses at the hospital told me that the police had no right to know if I was attending the hospital, unless the hospital needed to seek police assistance for my behaviour. 

Unfortunately in my remote town, there is usually only 1 ambulance officer on duty, so police will often attend ambulance call outs. Perhaps if you are in a large city, where ambulances have 2 officers, then you (or family or friends on your behalf) could call an ambulance rather than have police attend. However if ambulance officers fear for their safety, they can ask police to attend for support.

Another option is a Police and Ambulance Intervention Plan. This is a document that can be created to record what strategies would be useful for the police or ambulance officers attending to you in a mental health crisis. You are able to ask to be involved with formulating this plan. It may be created in a multi-disciplinary meeting with mental health staff, police and ambulance. In my case the community mental health nurse initiated my plan, with my GP (who also works at the hospital), but I was not invited to be involved. Hopefully some mental health professionals you know and trust could help you to record some strategies that could be used to make any police or ambulance involvement less traumatic.

Another thing that could help if you do end up in hospital is an Advanced Care Directive - mental health: where you can specify what treatment you would like or what you want to avoid if admitted for mental health reasons.

I hope you have a good GP or mental health professional who understands you and can help you get the care you need, without trapping you in situations where you fear seeking help.

Good luck with litigation against the police. Unfortunately if it is the word of the police versus someone who is mentally ill, I suspect the courts will probably believe the police. The courts prefer medical evidence from a psychiatrist, and anything else from a GP or other mental health professional is unlikely to be given much weight as evidence. The police have an assumption of sanity, and it is very difficult to prove that your mental ill health was the reason you acted how you did. I feel that often people are being convicted of criminal offenses, when all they have done wrong is have a mental health condition that needs treatment. I think it is especially poor form when police are called to assist someone with a mental health crisis and end up charging them and making things much worse.

Good luck & I hope you find the right people to help you recover from your trauma and protect you from the police.

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Hi CrazyChick,

 

I did not receive notification of your reply in my emails...Im sorry to be responding so late!

 

Thank you immensely for your long and detailed and careful answer. I really enjoyed it and gained alot of satisfaction. Are you a writer? You should be!

 

I have copied and pasted your message into my files so that I can read your message a few times over. You have shown a strong appreciation and sympathy for my sentiments and I may respond further at a later date.

Best wishes 🙂

Re: Afraid of the Australian Police

Bastards bastards. I have also been over diagnosed they put me on 6 month community mental health order.cant help you out mate but im sorry those f.......ks are hassling you.

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