Week saw two fatal shootings by police in Victoria. It will be some time before any definite conclusions can be drawn, whether police acted properly or whether some changes to police training and procedures are needed. Police made the point that the shootings were unrelated. Superficially, that may be the case. One was in Shepparton and one was in Melbourne. However, there were some similarities. Both victims were mentally unstable and beyond the control of those around them. Any inquiry should look at the extent to which mental-health policies contributed to the two situations. The policies over the past decade, notably in Victoria, of closing mental hospitals and putting the mentally unstable out into the community without at the same time providing accessible, professional help for times of crisis appear to have come seriously unstuck. The failure of these policies was well documented in the Burdekin report. It is too early to judge these cases, but it would in unwise to exclude that line of inquiry. It would also be worth inquiring into the extent to which the police are left to deal with the mentally ill in a crisis and whether that is appropriate. In the absence of other resources, however, it appears that relatives and others dealing with the mentally ill often have no other choice.
The other issue is police training in general in dealing with the potentially violent. Regrettable as the deaths are, it has to be recognised that any police officer facing a violent, dangerous person will be making decisions under considerable stress and virtually instantly. It is too easy for others to judge in hindsight with additional facts to available to the police at the time. Police officers are entitled to put the safety of the public and themselves before the safety of an armed person posing a threat to life and limb.
Regrettable though the deaths are, it is better that the questions are being asked about the death of the armed person than about the death or injury of innocent bystanders.
The real questions though must not go unasked: why were two mentally unstable people allowed to get to that position in the first place and why was not professional help available earlier?