News

August 2000

Across State Lines: New South Wales

PACT Revisited

In the May 1999 edition of NPEAB NEWS, we published details on the Police and Community Training (PACT) Program in New South Wales, highlighting the fact that PACT projects have been established to facilitate greater co-operation and goodwill between police and their local communities.

PACT came to life about four years ago with help of joint funding from the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW and the NSW Police Service. Its objectives are:

• It is at the local level that problems between the community and the Police develop and so it is at the local level that solutions should be found and put into practice:
• Any "training" should be reciprocal: that is, Police should learn about communities and communities should learn about Police; and
• The very best kind of training is the kind developed and controlled by the learners themselves in this case the learners are the Police and the community.

Currently there are seven PACT Projects across eight local areas in NSW. These are summarised as below:

Marrickville PACT

The development of an innovative CD-rom on policing within a multicultural society has become the vehicle for fostering closer police-community ties. Developed by the local PACT team and the NSW Office of the Board of Studies, the CD-rom is becoming an integral component of educational programs designed for schools, police, universities and community groups.

Kogarah PACT

A video education resource "A Little Respect" exploring police and youth relations, was recently launched by Senior Sergeant John Hamer and the Kogarah PACT team. The resource was developed with consultancy support from Open Training & Education Network (OTEN) of NSW TAFE. The PACT team will now drive the implementation of the resource and gather data on its effectiveness in bridging the gap between police and young people, particularly from non-English speaking background.

Fairfield PACT

A pool hall used as a drop-in centre once a week for police and local young people is the focus of this project. Attracting approximately 200 young people at each session, the PACT team has been overwhelmed with the level of interest amongst youth and police in finding appropriate venues where the two groups can interact to come to a better understanding of each other's experiences and expectations.

Cabramatta KARES

Kids at Risk Excursions is a proactive strategy targeting young people 'at risk' who may benefit from participating in structured programs such as camps, workshops and day excursions with police. Early findings suggest that the majority of young partcipants have not come under the attention of police since joining the program.

Cabramatta Video PACT

This video education resource attempts to focus on the roles, experiences and expectations of police and the local communities they serve. Coordinated jointly by police and community representatives with consultancy support from OTEN, the PACT team is certain that this resource will go a long way in building understanding and empathy amongst local police and community groups.

Penrith/St Marys PACT

Addressing domestic violence and its impact on families and communities of culturally diverse backgrounds is the key focus of this PACT team. Four smaller working parties have been formed from the Indian, Arabic speaking, Filipino and Pacific Islander communities to develop a framework for culturally appropriate information and training strategies. Grass-roots education through to broader awareness raising campaigns have been planned in later stages of the project.

Bankstown/Campsie PACT

The Bankstown/Campsie project consists of several key stages designed to enhance police-community relations through training and interaction. This model is under consideration as a template for PACT projects in other Local Area Commands in partnership with other government agencies.

There are several objectives of this project, namely:

• To enhance police awareness of local cultures, values, practices, experiences and expectations (this awareness may explain to police why certain incidents occur or escalate - this, in turn, may result in more appropriate police response).
• To enhance community understanding of police roles and responsibilities, objectives of community policing, reasons for the differences in policing between home countries and NSW. This knowledge may help communities to effectively process police action.
• To focus on youth culture in the training sessions. The rationale for this is that a considerable number of confrontations in this area involve youth.
• To facilitate communication and dialogue between police and youth through the positive contact program.
• To develop, implement and evaluate joint police-youth-community projects to build genuine and ongoing partnerships, that is, police to facilitate a whole community approach to local issues.

The objectives will be implemented through a number of stages including community orientation for police new to the area, and a two-day intensive training for police on understanding the critical components of confrontations and community issues by reflecting on everyday practice and identifying strategies. Research and consultation with stakeholders are integral parts of the project. Positive contact program which involves police, CityRail staff and young people in an independently facilitated roundtable setting is another important strategy designed to foster dialogue, enhance understanding of each stakeholder's experiences and expectations and to identify strategies for working together.

The progress to date is more than satisfactory with a number of critical stages being already successfuly implemented. The PACT team is now busy planning Police-CityRail-community forums to focus on local policing issues, community expectations, crime prevention and public safety.

Coordination of the PACT program is the responsibility of the Ethnic Affairs Unit of the NSW Police Service. The success of the program is due to the vision of Chief Superintendent Reg Mahoney who chairs the PACT Management Committee, and the tireless efforts of the team of Chitrita Mukerjee, Evelyn Mike, Shobha Sharma and David Evanian-Thomas.

Further information about PACT projects may be obtained on (02) 9339 5157.