NCJ Number
120713
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 56 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1989) Pages: 20,22,24,30,32,34
Date Published
1989
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Physical isolation and issues related to Aborigines are the major considerations involved in policing the more remote regions of Australia's Northern Territory, where much of the population is scattered in small, isolated communities.
Abstract
The physical isolation affects transportation, communications, staff management, disaster management, searches, educational access for children, the cost of living, evaluations for medical emergencies, prisoner management, crime investigation, the preservation of crime scenes, and the living situation for police officers. However, a more important issue is the difficulty involved in trying to assimilate the traditional patterns of behavior of Aborigines in the area into the conventional concepts and procedures of criminal law. The problems include communication and language barriers, the role of kinship, cultural conflict, Aboriginal customary law, multitribal and interclan conflicts, and substance abuse. A commission established in 1987 focused on deaths of Aborigines in custody and made many recommendations with major implications for police procedures in remote areas. However, the main problems that police face in these areas will decline only with efforts to provide a secure economic base, good health care, improved education, effective communications and transportation, and other measures. 4 footnotes.