Towards a national strategy for managing fixated persons in Australia

Abstract

Pathological fixations targeting public figures such as politicians can lead to harassment or stalking and result in distress, disruption and dignity issues, potentially placing public figures, their staff and their families at risk of serious harm. Fixated individuals often suffer from mental health issues and may cause harm to themselves and others if untreated. In both the United Kingdom (UK) and Queensland, Australia, units that assess, manage and mitigate threats posed by fixated individuals have successfully employed a joint approach between police and mental health professionals to identify individuals who raise significant concerns. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) set up a unit in 2016 with a national remit to assess and manage harassing behaviour towards Australian Commonwealth High Office Holders. The first year of operational outcomes shows that whilst such units can be effective at managing fixated behaviour, there are challenges in doing so across multiple health and policing jurisdictions.

Key words:

• fixation; politicians; public figure harassment; stalking
• mental health
• threat assessment
• threat management
• mental illness
• early intervention; risk assessment

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Dr Michele Pathé in providing her expertise and advice with establishing FTAT.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.