New South Wales police have failed to hand a promised review of the way they respond to mental health crises to the government, as pressure again mounts on the force to enact reforms after the fatal shooting of a mentally unwell man.
Alexander Stuart Pinnock died on Wednesday after being shot at by multiple officers outside a medical clinic in Nowra on the south coast following an almost two-hour standoff that began when the 34-year-old pulled out a gun, police said.
The NSW police assistant commissioner, Peter Cotter, said on Wednesday that Pinnock was known to police “through our intervention with him generally in the mental health space” including recent “psychological medical episodes”.
The police’s handling of mental health emergencies came under scrutiny last year after officers fatally wounded or shot four people experiencing mental health crises between May and September.
In September, the police minister, Yasmin Catley, told Guardian Australia the NSW police commissioner, Karen Webb, had “commissioned a three-month review into mental health training and approaches, that’s set to conclude at the start of November”.
On 31 October Webb said she was “very much looking forward to receiving that report and any suggestions for change”.
“There’s certainly an appetite that we need to consider what we could do differently.”
Asked to provide an update on the report’s progress on 22 November, she said: “It’s coming. It’s close and I look forward to receiving it.”
More than two months past its deadline, the report has yet to be finished.
A separate report written by two senior NSW police officers who went to the UK to study “best practice in law enforcement responses to mental health-related incidents” has been drafted, according to a police spokesperson.
A spokesperson for the mental health minister, Rose Jackson, said there was “significant room for improvement in how we respond to a mental health crisis” and that the government would “review and consider any recommendations” from the police.
The minister promised the government would work “hand-in-hand with police and NSW Health” to build a better system..
Asked about the Nowra shooting on Friday, the premier, Chris Minns said it was being investigated.
“Police are often called in at the very end … and they’re left to deal with terrible decisions and very complex sets of circumstances,” he said.
“Part of the discussion has got to be a recognition that policing in NSW is an extremely difficult job.”
NSW Council for Civil Liberties president, Lydia Shelly, called on the government and police to make systemic changes to prevent fatal outcomes for people suffering from mental health issues.
“While we are sympathetic to individual officers who attend these incidents, we cannot continue to have people experiencing mental health episodes die as a result of police intervention – there must be more effective ways to handle noncompliant individuals in mental health crises without resorting to lethal force,” she said.
The circumstances leading to the shooting of Pinnock are being investigated as part of an internal police investigation, with oversight from the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
In response to a question from Guardian Australia on Friday about whether the gun held by Pinnock was a replica, a NSW police spokesperson said “a firearm has been seized as part of the investigation, and will be subject to a ballistic examination”.
Pinnock did not have an extensive criminal record and was known to police largely through previous psychological episodes.
Last year he pleaded guilty to six offences brought against him by the Law Society of NSW after he was caught practising as a lawyer without a licence.
Following his death, Pinnock’s family told the Daily Telegraph they hoped “lessons can be learned from this horrible event and improvements can be made across the board to better care for those struggling in our midst”.
“This does not excuse his actions and it does not lessen the impact felt by those close to the incident,” the family said.
They said their thoughts were with the staff and patients involved.
