Only one Australian police force has taken up an offer to train officers to deal with patients with dementia after a great-grandmother was fatally tasered in an aged care facility.
Then-senior constable Kristian James Samuel White fired his weapon at 95-year-old Clare Nowland after being called to Yallambee Lodge nursing home at Cooma in southern NSW on May 17, 2023.
The 48kg great-grandmother, who had symptoms of dementia, had taken two steak knives from a kitchen area and refused to give them up.
Falling and hitting her head after being struck in the chest by the Taser's barbs, she did not regain consciousness and died in hospital a week later after a brain bleed.
Police forces around the country were invited to use a program teaching first responders how to de-escalate situations involving people with dementia, an inquest into Mrs Nowland's death heard on Thursday.
However, only the NT Police Force had taken up the offer from the government-funded Dementia Training Australia, the organisation's executive director Isabelle Meyer said.
While she refrained from telling police exactly what they needed to have in their training, she told Queanbeyan Coroners Court her organisation was happy to provide clinical support that officers could use in the field.
Counsel assisting Sophie Callan asked if existing mental health crisis training could help officers de-escalate a situation where a person with dementia acted aggressively or violently.
Dr Meyer replied it could, but she warned that police officers were not taught to think of dementia as a reason for the risky behaviour.
General de-escalation techniques involved thinking about violence or aggression as linked to drug or alcohol use or mental health issues such as psychosis, she said.
While these could be dealt with by firm instructions, that tone of voice could be seen by someone with dementia as a threat, she added.
"How do we as human beings respond to a threat? We escalate further.”
Because police officers did not have dementia front of mind when considering why a person may be acting in a risky manner, they could miss things and potentially make the wrong choice, she added.
In the three-day inquest, Judge Teresa O’Sullivan will examine systemic issues before the incident and will focus on dementia care and training for aged care staff, police and ambulance officers.
A NSW Supreme Court jury found White guilty of manslaughter in November 2024.
He was sentenced to a two-year good behaviour bond in March 2025, a decision that was later upheld by the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal
The 36-year-old was removed from the force in December 2024.
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