KEY POINTS:
Waking up cold and sweaty in a police cell while coming off drugs or alcohol is a sobering experience, in more ways than one.
Not only for the people being arrested, but for the police officers who have to deal with them regularly.
Detoxification centres where people can sober up or come off drugs safely before appearing in court are desperately needed, says Michelle Dianne Kidd, who works for Lifewise, formerly known as Methodist Mission Northern, at Auckland District Court.
Her work involves dealing with people on court charges who are homeless or have a mental illness or intellectual disorder.
Ms Kidd has been based at Auckland District Court for the past 10 years and is the first point of contact for those going through probation.
She believes that anyone who is drunk and is picked up on the street by police for disorderly behaviour should not be kept in police custody, especially with the Rugby World Cup coming up in 2011.
"It is not a police problem and people who are sobering up or coming off drugs like methamphetamine could have a terrifying experience if they wake up in a police cell.
"The court needs a medical detoxification unit that is dual-diagnosis, so when police pick up people who are drunk they can be monitored closely. Some people might have mental health issues or they might be self-medicating, so it's not just a case of throwing them in a cell.
"Within that time of detox, connections can be made back to family, as there is no point putting someone in a cell at three or four o'clock in the morning and then presenting them in court that same day when they are still drunk or high on methamphetamine."
Ms Kidd said about 95 per cent of cases she observed going through the courts were alcohol-related. And she believes there needs to be better education on liquor, as many people continue to return to court on alcohol-related charges.
"There's got to be a better way than just building more prisons. That is not addressing the other issues of mental health, drug and alcohol addiction. It is just covering it up."
She said detoxification centres were not just needed in Auckland, as every city in New Zealand would benefit.
Ms Kidd said that in 2005, Wellington coroner Garry Evans ruled that two men who died in police custody could have survived if they had been monitored in a detoxification centre.
Francis James Hurd, 68, died in November 2005 after he was found unconscious in a police cell. And just days later, epileptic Henry Reuban Grace, 43, died of a seizure disorder while in police custody.
"There is a need for some consistent guidelines. The Alcohol and Drug Addiction Act of 1966 had anticipated the establishment of detoxification centres, but consequently police cells are being used for this purpose by default," Ms Kidd said.
In 2007, 48 per cent of people held in police stations had been using at least one drug at the time of arrest. In the same year, police were called to nearly 9000 incidents involving people with solely mental health-related issues, and they also helped more than 17,000 people who had become affected by alcohol and drugs.
Steps are already being taken to address the problem. A joint programme was set up last year between the Health Ministry and police, with drug and alcohol nurses placed in police stations in Manukau and Christchurch.
The three-year pilot involves nurses screening those people who have been arrested and who might have mental health and alcohol/drug problems, enabling them to be referred for treatment if they need it.
Manukau police station is one of the busiest in the country, and two nurses joined the team in May and August.
Inspector Dave Simpson, of Manukau police, said it had been a great success so far.
"The alcohol and other drug [AOD] nurse project is probably less about dealing with a grossly intoxicated person and more about dealing with someone who's sobered up, because it's about engaging with that person to get them on the right track to get the help they need to manage a drink or drug problem.
"The presence of a nurse in a police station does help police to manage people with disabilities and addictions and identify what the effects of medications are and how to administer those correctly. Our staff are also getting valuable training advice and we have been able to create a much safer environment, both for the prisoner and for our staff."
Mr Simpson is full of praise for the project and thinks the whole country could benefit from it.
But he is not so sure about having detoxification centres in court, because he says that on a practical level, courts are not open at three o'clock in the morning when the drunks are brought in.
"Not everyone who is brought into the police station in an intoxicated condition goes on to appear in court. If they are brought to a police station in a grossly intoxicated condition, they may only have committed a minor offence and may just be given a warning and are simply released after they sober up.
"The police station is not the best place to manage an intoxicated person because police officers simply aren't qualified to do that. It appears there is a gap in the management of these people.
"We would never put a grossly intoxicated person before the court. It's a risk of a miscarriage of justice.
"One of the things the community alcohol and drugs service tells me is there is never such a thing as wrong intervention. You try everything with these people and you've got to be totally open-minded, and I'm certainly trying to do that."
- NZPA
