In Australia a large amount of police work is conducting welfare checks - suicide threats, people not showing up for work for a few days, distant family concern

In Australia a large amount of police work is conducting welfare checks - suicide threats, people not showing up for work for a few days, distant family concerned about an elderly relative, health support workers who are concerned their mentally ill patient hasn't taken their medication, people who show erratic behaviour at a bank or government welfare office after talking to staff. Especially in country areas where they are limited Ambulance/Paramedic resources, police are more often than not the ones conducting checks and will be first responders. If paramedics are concerned about safety on a particular job (weapons mentioned on call, previous history of violence), they will wait for police to make the area safe before attending to a patient. If paramedics are unable to gain entry to a property, police are required to be the ones to force entry. Also if paramedics require to take someone involuntarily to hospital for mental health evaluation they require police presence to "arrest" someone under the Mental Health Act to allow them to be taken against their will due to health concerns. Due to large amounts of mental health work with police, on most shifts police will have a specialised unit (car) on duty in each area which has a combination of a police officer and specialist mental health worker / psychologist. They focus on any jobs relating to mentally ill and can conduct assessments without having to wait for an ambulance to be available. There are a lot more police on shift than ambulances, and ambulances are often tied up for hours at hospitals doing transfers of patients, so police can and should be the ones dealing with welfare of the general public. They have a very close relationship with health workers. Police will NEVER undertake a welfare check with guns drawn, even if forcing entry to a property. When arresting someone under the Mental Health Act police will not draw their guns. Guns are a last resort only.