News

April 2002

Proactive Policing: Positive Interactions

Constable Ali Gurdag
Victoria Police

The terrorist attacks on the former World Trade Centre towers on September 11 2001 marked a significant point in our lives. People all over the world felt the impact of this tragic event.

Whilst it is very difficult to reflect positively on the incident, September 11 played a significant role in forging strong relations between police and members of Muslim and Middle Eastern communities in Victoria.

Multicultural Liason Units

The Victoria Police can credit this to a number of initiatives set-up by the Multicultural Liaison Units, one of which I staff at the Broadmeadows Police Station.

In a bid to promote and maintain harmonious relations between police and members of culturally and linguistically diverse communities, Victoria Police has set-up Multicultural Liaison Units in each of its five police regions.

The Units and the officers who staff them, aim to:

Provide advice to operational police to better understand and cater to the needs of multicultural communities;
Coordinate regional multicultural programs and participate in committees and forums;
Assist in the development and delivery of education programs for police and the community;
Provide communities with information to better understand their rights and responsibilities; and
Work with multicultural communities, government and non-government service-delivery agencies.

My appointment to the Region 3 Multicultural Liaison Unit, which is staffed also by Senior Constable Con Matsamakis, commenced coincidentally on 13 September, two days after the tragic events in New York.

Community backlash

With the cause of the September 11 attacks being directly linked to Islamic terrorist groups, I was of the opinion that many Muslim people in Victoria would probably experience repercussions from this. In addition, Region 3, which encompasses the State's largest Muslim communities, would probably experience the highest incidence of community backlash following the attacks.

With this in mind, my colleague and I took the initiative to immediately liaise with key Islamic organisations such as Mosques, Islamic schools as well as official Islamic representative bodies such as the Islamic Council of Victoria. Further to this, contact with Local Government municipalities were also established and we became involved in USA crisis recovery meetings.

The purpose of these initiatives was primarily based on implementing strategies to alleviate any tension that may occur as a direct result of September 11.

The numerous visits to Islamic centers and community groups by my partner and I, allowed us to gain a clear understanding of the issues that were impacting on the lives of these people. The meetings also helped us inform communities about the services that were available to them should they require assistance on issues such as racially motivated crime.

One of the main issues to emerge from our consultations with various Islamic groups indicated that there were many Muslim people who experienced some form of racial vilification but were reluctant to report these incidents to the police. It was revealed that such reluctance stemmed from the negative perceptions these people had of police. This was largely due to their negative experiences with police in their countries of origin.

Attending services at mosques

With this in mind, Senior Constable Matsamakis and I decided to attend services at key mosques in the region, in particular during the holy month of Ramadan. Two significant mosques were selected as having the most parishioners attending - Broadmeadows and Preston mosques.

The general feeling amongst Muslim people was one of deep appreciation to Victoria Police for allowing us to attend these services and help break down the barriers. The Imams (priests) and various presidents of key Islamic representative bodies particularly expressed this view.

In conjunction with the numerous visits, I was actively involved in promoting my role through various media (mainstream and ethnic media). Again, the purpose of these activities was to inform people of their rights and responsibilities should they become the victims of racial vilification and the procedures involved in reporting incidents to the police.

Our main objective was to encourage the community to exercise their rights by utilising government services available to them rather than seek retribution through alternative means.

One of the most positive outcomes from our direct involvement with the community was the request for greater police involvement with the Muslim communities, particularly with the youth from these communities.

Positive interaction with young people

Following intense consultations with various community organisations, service providers and secondary schools, both government and non-government, the Region 3 Multicultural Liaison Unit identified that young people of all backgrounds, particularly those aged between 10 and 12 years of age, would significantly benefit from positive interaction with the police. To this end, a strategy was formulated to identify those schools which would most likely benefit from such interaction with police.

The schools that were selected have a significant number of students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

These include:

Upfield Secondary College
Broadmeadows Secondary College
KODE (Koori) Secondary College
Fawkner Secondary College
Moreland Secondary College
Debney Park Secondary College
Whittlesea Secondary College
Thomastown Secondary College
Brunswick Secondary College

Our aims are to:

Implement development/educational-based programs on topics such as leadership, career selection, drug education, driver education and risk taking behaviour;
Raise awareness of young people's issues amongst parents;
Identify and encourage prospective Victoria Police applicants from non-English speaking backgrounds; and
Further enhance police/community relations.

Cross-cultural training for police

In addition to this, the Region 3 Multicultural Liaison Unit is in the process of developing a number of programs to address Domestic Violence, Safer Living, and issues relating specifically to newly-arrived refugees and temporary visa holders.

In conjunction with this, the Unit will also conduct regular information sessions with police members focused primarily on cross-cultural training.

In summary, the Region 3 Multicultural Liaison Unit continues to provide ongoing support to a variety of organisations both internally and externally. All programs implemented by the Unit will demonstrate awareness and understanding of the cultural sensitivities of CALD communities, which the Victoria Police is servicing.

Victoria Police multicultural initiatives

Victoria Police has a strong commitment to multiculturalism and its record in proactive and innovative approaches in this area is testimony to this commitment.

Victoria Police was the first Police Service to establish a Multicultural Advisory Committee in 1985. It was the first to establish the Police and Community Multicultural Advisory Committee in 1977 - a mechanism for consulting with CALD communities - which has been replicated by other police jurisdictions in recent years. We have been, and continue to be, strong supporters and contributors to the work of the National Police Ethnic Advisory Bureau.

The Victoria Police has taken part in the National Ethnic Police Recruitment Video and spent $3 million on our own recruitment campaigns to encourage more people from CALD backgrounds, women and people from regional Victoria to consider a career in policing. We were the first Police Service to introduce the Bilingual Badge Scheme, another initiative that has since been adopted by other police jurisdictions.

Through our Multicultural Advisory Unit we have pioneered a Vietnamese Language and Cultural Training Program that has given our members the skills to work more effectively with one of Victoria's largest and more recently arrived communities. We are currently working on adapting the course to other languages and cultures.

The fact that Multicultural Liaison Units have now been established across the State of Victoria is clear acknowledgement of the cultural and linguistic diversity of our society and the imperative to respond to this diversity in an effective and efficient manner. It also highlights the need for our police members to know their community by establishing successful and productive networks and partnerships.