When police tasered and killed Clare Nowland – a 95-year-old aged care resident with dementia – after her nursing home called triple zero for help managing her behaviour, her family were devastated and the public was shocked.

How could a frail and elderly woman on a walking frame, albeit grasping a steak knife, die in such a violent way?

Nowland’s death intensified calls to explore alternatives to police officers as first responders, especially when people are experiencing mental health crises, and especially among vulnerable communities who have historically had a justified fear of the police.

She was one of at least five people who died in 2023 after interactions with New South Wales police, including “gentle soul” Steve Pampalian, shot in his driveway suffering a psychotic episode; beloved son Jesse Deacon, shot by police after a concerned neighbour called triple zero when seeing Jesse had self-harmed, and Newcastle mother Krista Kach who died after officers forced their way into her apartment after a nine-hour standoff and shot her with beanbag rounds.

“The only person in danger when the police broke into our mother’s home, and the many hours leading up to that moment, was our mother,” her family said in a statement at the time.

The toll continues. There have been five deaths involving police in similar circumstances........

© The Guardian