NCJ Number
221499
Date Published
August 2007
Length
44 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes workshops provided for Northern Territory police, which focused on policing responses to alcohol and other substance misuse problems in rural and remote indigenous communities
Abstract
On August 29-30, 2007, a national workshop was held at Alice Springs, Australia which focused on policing responses to alcohol and other substance misuse problems in rural and remote indigenous communities. The goal of the workshops was to disseminate the findings of two National Drug Law Enforcement Research Fund (NDLERF) funded research projects, and to determine the ways in which the findings of the research could influence the policing practices in rural and remote indigenous communities. Workshop participants were from police departments from each jurisdiction; the Australian crime Commission; health, welfare, and justice agencies; NDLERF; and research agencies. Although there were representatives from each of the States and territories, there was a particularly large contingent of Northern Territory community policing officers, and a large number of officers present from Queensland. Workshop themes included: substance misuse in indigenous communities and good practice in policing and other responses; policing responses to illicit drug problems in rural and remote indigenous communities; police responses to volatile substance misuse among indigenous Australians; Central Australian petrol sniffing strategy; case studies of policing approaches to substance misuse in rural and remote indigenous communities; case studies of policing approaches in rural and remote Queensland; attracting and retaining police with the necessary skill sets attributable to work with remote indigenous communities; case studies of hypothetical scenarios developed at the workshop; and the workshop participants' perception of the current status of policing response to drug problems in rural and remote communities. Fifty participants attended the workshop which was organized by Northern Territory police, and funded by the Remote Workforce Development Strategy (Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment, Northern Territory Government), and the NDLERF, which is in turn funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aging.