News

April 1998

Big boost to anti-racism training

The resources available to cross cultural awareness trainers in Australia were boosted late last year by the national release of two police training videos addressing the subject of racism and racist violence.

The videos entitled "The Difference Racism Makes" and "No Story to Tell?" are the result of a joint initiative of the NPEAB, the Victoria Police and representatives of Victorian ethnic communities - who participated as victims of racism in the videos.

The impetus for the production of the videos were the findings of the "Report of the National Inquiry into Racist Violence in Australia," and the Bureau's desire to make a tangible contribution to the enhancement of anti-racism part of cross-cultural awareness training in Australia.

It is acknowledged that is not always the trauma associated with racist violence fully understood by police, most of whom have never been exposed to this type of unacceptable behaviour. The lack of understanding and awareness of the impact of racist violence on people may hamper professional police service delivery in a culturally diverse Australia. The videos redress this situation by developing an awareness in police that even relatively minor incidents often have traumatic impact on victims, and the recognition of the need to show empathy for victims and sensitivity when attending or taking reports of racially motivated incidents.

By using the videos, police trainers can explore with their students the range of legal avenues, sources of referral and other strategies which may assist to alleviate the traumatic impact of racism. As the videos touch on some of the reasons for the low degree of reporting of racially inspired incidents to police, facilitators will be able to analyse such reasons in depth through group discussion.

Both videos are documentary in style showing people from various ethnic backgrounds on the receiving end of racist violence, sharing their experiences on camera. These personal accounts make the videos a very powerful teaching aid and the producers are grateful to all the participants for their involvement in this project. As one can imagine, it requires considerable strength to re-live often painful experiences so that others, in this case police, can learn from them.

This project was a good example of a team effort and the involvement of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and Liz de Rome and Associates was instrumental behind its success.

It was gratifying to see that even before their official release the videos were used in an in-service training program for police in New South Wales.

Both videos have also stimulated interest overseas and copies were forwarded to 'RADAR' Anti-Discrimination Foundation in Rotterdam, which is the peak anti-discrimination body in the Netherlands. The British authority on police and race relations, and Senior Consultant to the Home Office Specialist Support Unit, Dr. Robin Oakley was also supplied with the video kit.

Whilst the videos are an excellent training resource, they can provide a springboard for the development of national anti-racism training packages. The Bureau has already initiated action in this direction by inviting Educational Media Consultants Liz de Rome and Associates, to make a submission on the professionally designed packages which would be compatible with the Bureau's National Standard for Cultural Diversity Training for Police. It is the Bureau's hope that this project of national significance would be funded under the Federal Government's Anti-Racism Campaign.

In the meantime police trainers across Australia have been encouraged to make full use of the videos as an integral part of presentation addressing this important area.