Assessing and managing the threat posed by fixated persons in Australia

Abstract

In July 2013, the Australian State of Queensland established the first fixated threat assessment service outside Europe to specifically assess and manage lone, fixated persons. The Queensland Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (QFTAC) is a collaboration between the Intelligence, Counter-Terrorism and Major Events Command of the Queensland Police Service and Queensland Health’s Forensic Mental Health Service. It has been modelled on the original Fixated Threat Assessment Centre (FTAC) which has been operating in the United Kingdom since 2006, with modifications to reflect local needs and differing mental health and legal practices. This paper describes the background to the development of these services, the rationale for their expansion to the Asia Pacific region, and outcome data for QFTAC’s first 12 months of operations. These findings support the efficacy of proactive FTAC-style approaches to managing the threat posed by fixated individuals to public figures and the wider community.

Keywords:

• fixation
• threat assessment
• stalking
• public figure harassment
• early intervention

Acknowledgements

We thank the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, London UK, for their invaluable support during the establishment of QFTAC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.