Press release: Justice for Jesse Deacon. End the killing of mentally traumatised people by police.
Rally Saturday July 20, 1pm Sydney Town Hall
Protest on the first anniversary of Jesse Deacon’s shooting by police.
In July 2023, 43 year old Jesse suffered an acute breakdown in his Glebe public housing home. He was self-harming and anguished. His well-meaning neighbour rang ‘000’ and asked for the ambulance but the police responded, forcibly entered his home, shooting and killing Jesse.
Judy Deacon, Jesse’s mother, said “mental illness is a health problem, not a police problem. We don’t want police responding to people in mental anguish.”
Action for Public Housing spokesperson, Siobhan Patton notes, “Jesse was shot in an inner Sydney public housing estate, only five minutes walk from a bustling shopping centre. This is all too common. In the last five years, 52 people experiencing severe mental distress were killed in interactions with police.”
Judy Deacon, Jesse’s mother continued, “crisis mental health response programs exist that don’t involve police, but are underfunded. The Western Sydney Health Model Teams respond to acute distress of community members without police involvement. The South Australian core model allows Triple Zero calls to be referred to mental health clinician and paramedic, not police. The NSW government has not shown any interest in implementing a fully-funded health response to mental health crises.”
Leesa Topic, the mother of 22 year-old Courtney Topic who was in mental distress and shot by police in 2015, said “we must get this right, so that lives of vulnerable people with mental illness are prioritised and treated with utmost respect.”
Judy Deacon concluded, “police attend acute situations and can exacerbate situations. Their interventions result in killing vulnerable people suffering from moments of mental distress. They also act with impunity, continuing to harass and kill Aboriginal people. Join us in taking a stand against the police force being the first responders called out in a community-wide mental health crisis.”
The rally calls for an immediate end to sending police into mental health crisis cases. The rally is calling for mental health-first responder programs that replace police. We are calling on governments to reinstate supported, free, quality and dignified accommodation for mentally unwell people.
Speakers: Aboriginal pastor Rev. Minniecon (Honorary Indigenous Minister for Scarred Tree Indigenous Ministries, St. John's Anglican Church), Judy Deacon (Jesse’s mother) Leesa Topic (Courtney’s mother), Lizzie Jarrett (a Bundjalung Gumbaynggirr Dunghutti woman, long term Aboriginal rights activist), Sam Lee (Police Accountability Officer at Redfern Legal Centre) Sue Higginson (NSW Greens MP). Chaired by Rachel Evans on behalf of Action for Public Housing NSW.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1402998333692958
Organised by Judy Deacon (Jesse's mother), Action for Public Housing, Justice Action, Sydney Socialist Alliance, Greens NSW, Hands Off Glebe
.Call Judy 0424 288 194 or Siobhan 0448 231 31
