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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 11 Hansard (22 October) . . Page.. 3940 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I, of course, share residents' concerns about crime, but crime indicates problems much more complex than numbers of police. Mr Pratt made some arguments about the staffing levels and the ratio of experienced to inexperienced officers on duty at particular times. That does sound as if it is an issue of concern.

His motion refers to community policing. Community policing, in general terms, is about police officers being a more positive part of the community and people knowing their local officer. Community policing dwindled under the previous Liberal government. A kind of pilot operated for a time in Ainslie and Kaleen. The idea of the local police officer, as in traditional ideas of the London bobby, is appealing in many ways. People often say, "When I was young in the country, if we did something wrong, the local officer would give us a word and take me home to mum."But it's important to ask what does it mean in practice in a city like Canberra?

The Justice and Community Safety Committee of the previous Assembly began an inquiry into the adequacy of arrangements for community policing in the ACT but was not able to complete that inquiry before the end of the Assembly. There were 10 submissions, but I haven't had time to go through all of them for this debate, although I have had a look at ACTCOSS's submission. They are quite supportive of community policing and make some important points, I believe, on that subject. They are saying that putting greater numbers of police on the streets would directly meet the needs of some sectors of the community.

Research undertaken by the ACT Council on the Ageing, for example, has found that many older people in Canberra feel there are not enough police on the streets. Increasing the number of police in neighbourhoods as part of an early intervention and relationship building strategy could meet the community policing need of older people.

They also point out greater numbers of police on the streets can have benefits for police relations with younger people and indigenous people. However, they put strong reservations there because there is already a sense among some young people and indigenous people that they are harassed by police, particularly if they gather in groups or dress differently; and a greater police presence on the streets could basically go either way. That could actually assist in building a better relationship with police or it could go the other way. As ACTCOSS pointed out, a careful balance would need to be struck between the greater visibility and any perceptions of increased harassment that a higher police presence may cause.

These are, of course, points of view that are informed by the member groups of ACTCOSS who are working directly with young people. I am assuming Mr Pratt would take those recommendations seriously.

The other recommendations that they made, which I think are important to raise in the context of this motion, are that the AFP continue to train police in cultural awareness and that the AFP fully integrate cultural awareness into community policing at an operational level. ACTCOSS also recommended that the AFP continue to encourage greater numbers of indigenous police officers and implement a similar strategy to increase recruitment of officers from migrant communities. I think having this social understanding in police work is very important.

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