Focus on the fixated

Editorial and photography: Jesse Wray-McCann

The Victorian Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (VFTAC) is a joint Victoria Police and Forensicare unit that was launched in March 2018 with the aim of reducing the risk of lone actor, grievance-fuelled violence.

Fixated threat assessment centres exist around the world, with the first such unit being established in the United Kingdom in 2006 to address the risk posed by people with pathological fixations on members of the British Royal Family.

VFTAC Inspector Steven Cooper said his unit largely deals with people who have an underlying mental illness and a pathological grievance against individuals, companies or other organisations.

“These can be people whose grievance over a period of time becomes all-consuming, it takes over their thoughts and actions, often they may stop looking after their health and lose friends and family,” Insp Cooper said.

“They don’t just snap, it’s an escalation of behaviour over time.

“The people we work with don’t primarily belong in prison, they need mental health intervention and, at times, need it urgently.

“And that’s why VFTAC exists – to intervene well before it escalates into a violent act.”

The unit is made up of a number of case management teams, with each comprising a police investigator, an analyst and a senior mental health clinician.

While most referrals of people to the unit come from frontline responders, Superintendent Peter Seiz said a range of sources can be involved, such as other government departments, educational institutions or mental health services.

“For instance, a person might be unhappy with decisions the government has made and this grievance is exacerbated by underlying mental illness,” Supt Seiz said.

“They might start attending Parliament House and even shout threats at politicians, which is when the Protective Services Officers at parliament become involved and realise the person may have a mental illness.”

At this point, the person would often be taken to hospital for assessment and eventually released.

But if a referral is made to and accepted by VFTAC, this enables the unit to monitor the individual, search police and mental health databases and undertake a threat assessment to determine the level of risk the person poses.

“We can then put in place a plan for mental health engagement and treatment for them with clinical experts,” Supt Seiz said.

“But there can be critical occasions when the police in our unit are needed to make an arrest.

We work with a range of stakeholders to ensure referred persons can be treated in the least restrictive fashion, supported by our partners within local hospitals and health services.

Since VFTAC’s inception, it has received about 700 referrals, taken on about 180 clients and has about 35 current clients.

The average length of a case with VFTAC is 152 days.

"From a police perspective, this is a ground-breaking way of dealing with individuals who we have traditionally struggled to deal with," Insp Cooper said.

“It’s important to note while some people with mental illness may be at risk of engaging in these types of behaviours, people with mental illness are actually more likely to be victims themselves and they and their families are the ones at most risk of harm from these kinds of concerning behaviours.”

VFTAC Forensic Mental Health Operations Manager Dr Jennifer McCarthy said the unit’s clinicians are just as impressed with the work of their police colleagues.

“One of the biggest things for me has been to see the engagement skills of the police with the clients,” Dr McCarthy said.

“Even as the mental health engagement experts, we’ve learnt a lot from them because they’re amazing at talking with the clients.

“We’ve had clients who have had a grievance towards police for 20 years, but then we’ve had one of our police investigators engage with them and they’ve then got a completely different, positive experience with police.

“This is a partnership that is both keeping the community safe and improving the lives of vulnerable people.”