Analyzing Community Policing and Its Impact on Australian Society

This report analyzes community policing in Australia, with a particular focus on its impact on indigenous communities. It defines community policing as a collaborative approach between law enforcement and the community, highlighting the historical tensions between the police and Aboriginal Australians, characterized by racism and harassment. The report discusses initiatives by the NSW Police Force, such as increased recruitment of Aboriginal officers and various intervention programs addressing domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and truancy. It examines programs like IPROWD and PCYC aimed at improving the relationship between the police and the indigenous group. The role of the Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO) and challenges faced by the indigenous group are also discussed. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of community participation and setting clear goals for effective policing practices, including reducing crime and ensuring safety for all citizens, with a special focus on the disadvantaged groups.

Running head: POLICING, JUSTICE AND SOCIETY
Policing, Justice and Society
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Community policing may be defined as a policy, which ensures that the police is working
closely with the members of the community (Short 2016). Community policing is a kind of
policy that requires the police to follow a positive approach for addressing the issues related to
public safety. Community policing builds ties between the law enforcement agency and other
organizations such as non-profit organizations, government agencies, media and private
businesses. The modern community policing movement focuses on the changes brought about in
the role played by law enforcement from being reactive, bureaucratic to the becoming of an
open, dynamic agency that works closely with the members of the community (Drew and
Prenzler 2015).
The term ‘disadvantaged’ is used for individuals or group of persons who are either
physically or mentally disabled; or financially unstable or lack political support and other means
of influence (Short 2016). In other words, the disadvantaged group refers to the group of people
who have restricted access to the natural resources and financial opportunities. In Australia, the
aboriginals are usually deemed as the indigenous group or the ‘disadvantaged group’.
The police officers are obligated to extend protection to every citizens of the country
irrespective of sex, age, gender, religion and race. They are responsible for safeguarding every
citizen from any offence and crime and ensure safety of the citizens (Murphy and Tyler 2017). In
regards to the aboriginal or the Indigenous group, the police officers must pay more attention as
the indigenous group are already the disadvantaged group who has limited access to the natural
resources and become subject to social exclusion due to their disabilities and lack of political and
financial support. The only remedy to improve the relationship is the promotion of programs or
events that mainly focus on the helpful role played by the police in association with the cultural
awareness programs may prove to be advantageous for both the parties (Kiedrowski 2013).

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Some of the examples of community policing include the problem solving and prevention
strategies; partnerships; Community participation; analysis, evaluation and measurement and
organizational development and change. In Australia, the historical relationship between the
aboriginals and the police has largely been negative and has a substantial impact on the present
relationship between the indigenous group and the law enforcement agency. In the past, there
had been several reports relating to the racism and harassment conducted by the police officers
against the indigenous group (White 2015).
Over the past years, there have been several reports of incidents relating to the
relationship between the police and the Aboriginal people. On one hand, several witnesses
testified that the police have been behaving inappropriately with the community members
whereas some non-aboriginals and police officers stated that the police officers were merely
responding to the criminal behavior (White 2015). The South Sydney Youth services stated that
due to the negative nature of the relationship existing between the two, the indigenous group
only perceives the punitive side of the police activity and the police only perceives the criminal
aspect of the community (Bartkowiak-Théron and Asquith 2017).
Nevertheless, in the recent years, there have been improvements in the relationship
between the local indigenous group and the police. Several witnesses have stated that the police
have made several initiatives in addressing the issues complained about by the community
members (Kiedrowski 2013). The NSW police have implemented wide range of organizational
strategies over recent years with a view to improve the relationship between the police and the
indigenous group of people (White 2015). The NSW Police was advised to recruit 138 sworn

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Aboriginal officers approximately with an aim to increase awareness about the issues faced by
the Indigenous people and enhance the recruitment of Indigenous women permanently.
Given the history of tension between the indigenous group and the police, the police
officers shall be provided with trainings and the students shall be required to attend lectures to
learn about the issues faced by the aboriginals. The NSW Police Force believes that as per the
role played by the Police force, they must endow the indigenous people with employment
opportunities (Short 2016).
There are other intervention programs introduced by the NSW police force include
interventions addressing the issues related to domestic violence, alcohol abuse, truancy that is
faced by the indigenous group. The NSW Police Force strives to provide safety to the citizens of
the state and expects respect in return from the community to which it extends protection. In
order to achieve this objective, the NSW police makes sure that the employees of the Force
demonstrates respect for the diversity of the community and that the policing procedure and
practices comply with the culture prevalent within the community.
The NSW Police Force has developed a specialist program namely, the Indigenous
Police Recruitment Our Way Delivery (IPROWD) that purports to provide assistance to the
indigenous group in acquiring education, developing skills and build up self-confidence to
succeed in making a career with the NSW Police Force (Kiedrowski 2013). Furthermore, NSW
has introduced PCYC or Police Citizens Youth Club, that is an organization which encourages
young people to work with police and community with a view to achieve their and explore their
potential capabilities.

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The role played by the liaison officer is to fill the gaps existing between the two groups
whose past relations demonstrates distrust and imbalances. The ALCO program was initiated
with a view to provide assistance to the police in resolving and addressing issues affecting the
indigenous or the aboriginals by maintaining a good rapport between the indigenous group and
the police (Theodore 2015). The aboriginal community liaison officer (ACLO) occupying a
place between the indigenous and the police force faces several challenges as while exercising
his duties, he is deemed the agent of the other by both the groups, which results in rejection by
both the groups. However, ultimately, how the police force would perceive ACLO and how they
would like to work with them depends largely upon the circumstances in which the ACLO is
exercising his duties.
Furthermore, since most of the prisons in Australia have the indigenous group of people
as the inmates, despite the fact that the aboriginals include two percent of the country’s
population. The NSW Police Force is of the opinion that one of the most effective remedy to
prevent the indigenous group from landing in jail is recidivism, which refers to a situation where
the individual reoffends and lands up in jail (Theodore 2015). The PCYC program initiated in
Sydney is dealing with the problem by teaching the jail inmates job skills and boxing on prior
release of the inmates (Bowen and Neill 2016).
From the above discussion, it can be inferred that while the community policing has
gained success irrespective of the least degree to which the community have been implementing
such community policing, it may not enable the communities to take part in the policing
activities. With respect to the high level of contact between the law enforcement agency and the
indigenous groups in Australia, they are working in partnership with various governmental
agencies and other community groups with a view to operate the policing activities in the own

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group. The community policing initiatives include the early street level interventions which
prevents the youth from committing crimes and land up in jail; it also includes various
interventions to address the issues and difficulties faced by the indigenous group of people
including domestic violence, alcohol abuse, truancy and homelessness, etc.
Thus, there are no universally defined criteria to determine good policing practice.
Nevertheless, there are certain common 0structures that can be use to determine whether policing
practice is effective or not is that the police officers must set their own goals to reduce crimes
and ensure safety of every citizen of the country. Once the goal is decided, they must ensure
community participation in order to achieve the goals. With the implementation of the IPROWD
program, it aims at enhancing greater employment within the indigenous community.
As the program was initiated to assist the indigenous group in developing their career in
the NSW Police Force by assisting them to acquire education and other skills knowledge. The
greater employment opportunity would enhance the income, residential stability and easy access
to health care services. The officers as well as the entire community must feel that the goals set
represent what they want to achieve, as this would enable the officers to undertake proactive
approach in resolving he issues related to the public safety.

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