Alcohol and Community Policing

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter describes the emergence and evolution of communitypatrols, warden schemesand social behaviour projectsas community-led initiatives for promoting safety and preventing and resolving disputes, many of them associated with alcohol. The earliest reported communitypatrols date from around 1970 and refer to unfunded initiatives relying on Elders and other volunteers, often using their own vehicles and other resources. Patrols evolved in urban, regional and remote settings. They received increased attention following the Report of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCADIC) in 1991, which recommended the use of communitypatrols as an alternative or complement to orthodox mainstream policing practices. Historically, many patrols and associated schemes have faced conflicting expectations. They draw on Aboriginal cultural authority to manage disputes in a way more culturally appropriate than mainstream policing practices. External authorities, however, including funding bodies, have tended to view them as extensions of state-based policing with primary roles of keeping drunks off the streets and crime prevention. We explore the emergence of these expectations and the responses of patrols to them and identify best practice principles for communitypatrols and associated measures.