Winston Churchill, suicide and me: The police response to Indigenous people in mental health crisis

Winston Churchill, suicide and me: The police response to Indigenous people in mental health crisis

Policing Insight | Matthew Moloney

[WARNING the article contains a graphic description of suicide that some readers may find distressing]
Police officers often deal with deaths and suicides by detaching and ‘normalizing’ distressing situations, but for former Queensland Far North Sgt Matthew Moloney, the suicide of someone he knew from the local Indigenous community prompted him to embark on an educational and research journey in an effort to change things for the better. Moloney applied for a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship to examine culturally effective police response to Indigenous persons in mental health crisis situations. He was surprised to be successful in his application "I just don’t know how I got one. I was a uniform schlub who had joined the job at 19, had no degree and was not a specialist. A non-descript sergeant working in the least most sought-after locations in Queensland. All of a sudden, I had A$20,000 of Churchill Trust money to spend. But with great opportunity comes great responsibility. I wanted to make it count."

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Moloney, M. (2022) Winston Churchill, suicide and me: The police response to Indigenous people in mental health crisis. Policing Insight https://policinginsight.com/features/opinion/winston-churchill-suicide-and-me-the-police-response-to-indigenous-people-in-mental-health-crisis