Senior New Zealand health and police officials will visit Australia to observe how New South Wales police handle confrontations with the mentally ill.
The visit might result in a proposal for a new approach by New Zealand police finding themselves in similar situations.
Police have been criticised by the mental health and human rights communities for using force, or the threat of force, against the mentally ill, especially with increased use of Tasers.
As at May 10, Tasers had been presented 192 times and fired 24 times - including three times in the Southern Police District - since they were reintroduced in November last year.
The number of people targeted who were believed to have mental illnesses was not yet available, but during the year-long Taser trial in 2006-07 about half those targeted were thought to have had mental-health problems, police Taser project manager Superintendent John Rivers said.
He had worked since the trial to identify options for police dealing with the mentally ill.
Research showed the preferred first option of communication with mentally ill people exhibiting aggression or violence did not work.
Supt Rivers, another police representative and a member of the Ministry of Health's mental health directorate would later this year visit New South Wales.
There, police ran intensive four-day mental-health training programmes for front-line officers and had integrated non-sworn mental-health professionals into their teams.
The intention was, on their return, to develop a proposal for police and health authorities here, Supt Rivers said.
The mental-health community and critics of Tasers applauded police for taking a proactive stance to learn more about working with the mentally ill.
Dunedin mental health services campaigner Jim Crowe said he was pleased police were looking into the way they handled such situations.
