'You never know who’s going to have a knife': Limerick gardai respond to complex mental health calls

LIMERICK gardaí were dispatched to the banks of the River Shannon after receiving a call to help a suicidal male, as seen on RTÉ's documentary On The Beat.

The HSE established CAST, a pilot scheme in Limerick city, which is the first of its kind in Ireland. CAST stands for Community Access Support Team.

In the documentary, Sergeant John O'Sullivan explained:

“This individual called a family member indicating that there was suicidal intent, he said he was going to enter the water above Ardnacrusha which is a hydroelectric power station on the Shannon."

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“There was a level of history, suicidal intent, he was going to harm himself, he was going to enter the water. It's a very hazardous environment so there's a huge level of concern with it so we'll try to find out where he is.”

Mental health nurse, George Glynn added: 

"I'm looking at this individual on our system... It mostly looks like alcohol dependence. Once he's drinking he can become suicidal. I was able to look at his mental health records and there was a potential there for a serious deterioration.”

“Our first and immediate port of call really is to bring this person to safety... We approach them in a therapeutic manner and bring the person to a place of safety.”

The documentary also showed that the man's friends had spoken to him on the phone. "He was intoxicated. They were trying to piece together what information they had and try and minimise our search," stated Sgt O'Sullivan.

One of the man's friends informed the gardai that he was down at a culvert but didn't know if the man had gone into the water.

Sgt O'Sullivan said: “We started the search. We moved towards the most immediate danger – the hydroelectric dam."

"We have no search and rescue equipment so we spoke with the Coast Guard."

One of the gardai found the man who said he had "lost everything through a divorce" and was experiencing depression and suicidal thoughts.

Nurse Glynn stated that it was a medical emergency. "This individual was suffering from alcoholism and suicidal ideation. The person was brought then to hospital to undergo detox treatment."

The gardai were able to engage the man with appropriate addiction services and detox pathways.

On The Beat showed that the CAST team were called to assist an ambulance crew that were dealing with a member of the public.

Sgt O'Sullivan commented: “This individual is known to the CAST team so we kind of have a greater awareness of some of the needs that might be there. He had been referred to us previously into CAST. We knew there was issues there. His behaviour with ambulance crew was incredibly challenging.”

A paramedic said that the man was getting verbally abusive with them and threatened to kill them.

Nurse Glynn added: 

“It's very difficult to do assessments on him when he's in this state. It's more so the day afterwards.”

“There's also a behavioural element involved in this where the person was banging his head and self harming in that capacity in the ambulance.”

“The individual agreed at that point for me and the team to come out to see what we can do for him.”

“The beauty of CAST is that after there's a crisis call, there's a call back the next day. And the call back really is where a lot of the work happens, especially in those addiction cases," concluded Nurse Glynn.

Limerick gardai were also called to the scene of a woman with a large knife outside a pharmacy, seen on the RTÉ series. 

The gardai disarmed the woman and asked what the reason for having the knife was.

The woman responded: "Ah sure life ya know." She was later charged with being intoxicated in a public place, threatening and abusive behaviour and possession of an offensive weapon.

Garda Costello added that it was quite unusual at that hour of the day to be that intoxicated. "She was quite abusive as well but you see, at the end of the day, you just never know who's going to have a knife on them."

"We arrived at the scene and when we actually got there I could see this lady was sitting on a bench. The knife was actually stuck down into the bench so when we got out of the car to come across to her, she picked the knife up and kind of swung it in across her body."

Garda Costello continued: "You don't know if she's going to harm herself, if she's going to get up and come against us, or unknowingly to any member of the public who's actually still walking on the footpath."

"You could be dealing with someone that might not be mentally stable or could be drug-fuelled or alcohol-fuelled, and they could have a knife on them and whatnot. It changes how you're dealing with the incident."