The Authority oversaw a Police investigation into the response from the Northern Emergency Communications Centre and Northland District Police after a mentally unwell woman phoned Police and said she was ‘hearing voices’ and that her children were dead.
At 6.20am on 15 May 2023, the woman phoned the Police 105 line in a distressed state. During the call she referred to her children being dead. Police arrived at the rural address 77 minutes after she called and found the children to be already deceased. Police investigations later found they had died some hours before the woman had called Police.
The woman was charged with the children’s murder but was acquitted, as it was proven she was not criminally responsible due to insanity.
Police found the call-taker made mistakes when prioritising and categorising the woman’s call.
They also found that District staff should not have delayed going to the address. District staff had made the decision to wait until the on-call rural officer came on duty at 7am rather than sending him immediately to the scene. There was then a further delay of 18 minutes before officers were sent to the scene. Police concluded that District staff did not realise the seriousness of the event until after officers arrived at the scene and discovered the deceased children.
Police have addressed the decision-making of staff involved in this incident. Staff have received further training regarding responding appropriately in situations where urgency is required.
Police identified several learnings to improve their future response to events where mental health is a significant contributing factor.
The Authority acknowledges the tragic circumstances of this case, and that, in this instance, Police’s delayed response would not have affected the outcome. We agree with Police’s findings and with the actions undertaken to address the failings in their response.
IPCA: 23-18120