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Consultations Homepage || Meeting Notes: 9 April 2003

Consultation with NSW Police Ethnic Community Liaison Officers (ECLOs), Manly, 9 April 2003

The meeting was chaired by Ms Shobha Sharma, ECLO Coordinator, NSW Police and attended and facilitated by Omiema Sukkarieh and Susanna Iuliano from HREOC. The consultation took place as part of the ECLO Coordination Meeting and was attended by 19 of the invited participants.

1. As ECLOs, have you come across discrimination and vilification issues in your work with the community, particularly the Arab and Muslim community?

Over the last year, there have been a low number of instances, several of those which targeted the Jewish community. Sikhs, due to their turban and beard, have experienced incidents of discrimination also as they have been mistaken as followers of Osama Bin Laden.

"On the weekend the station was advised by the Department of Housing that there was graffiti on one of the front doors of a public housing complex, saying 'No Arabs here!' It had apparently been there for a little while but was not reported by any of the residents. Arabs were living a couple of streets away."

Although this example was easy to determine, the ECLO believed it is difficult to determine whether or not an incident or attack took place against a person’s ethnicity or religion. For example, Sudanese Muslims in the area had recently had eggs thrown at their car, but this was not formally reported.

The low number of complaints or recorded instances regarding the Muslim or Arabic community (including Muslims of diverse ethnic backgrounds and Arabs of diverse religious backgrounds) raises a question as to whether or not the community is not reporting or the police are not recording the incidences.

Following the attacks of September 11, 2001 and also the Bali bombings, ECLOs have perceived an increase in community tensions.

It is apparent also that even for police there is a difficulty in differentiating between a Muslim and an Arab.

“It is hard to tell which is a Muslim and which is Arab.”

Fear in the community about Muslims has led to some reports to police. For example, after the Sacrificial Eid Festival for Muslims earlier this year particularly after a person returns from the annual pilgrimage of Haj, residents complained to police in fear about religious signs which hung outside of Muslim people’s homes, (as this is common to do after a person has returned from Haj) as they thought they were Arabic writing of possible threats and provocations. These were misinterpreted in a negative way and these misinterpretations caused some concerns.

People standing outside a Coptic Orthodox Church which looks Middle Eastern have been verbally abused by racial comments made by passers-by.

2. What is being done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?

Community initiatives

The Dee Why Mosque held an Open Day in April 2003 which attracted over 500 visitors This was initiated by the Local church groups as well as individual groups from the Northern Beaches area, who have been working closely with the Muslim community, expressing interest in organising picnics with the Muslim community with the aim of getting to know them better and to strengthen ties.

There is a general belief that this should be done regularly.

Even though Voice of Islam and Muslim Community Radio have both in the past reinforced the message of the importance of the community coming forward with their complaints, the number of formal reports and complaints has not increased, therefore this strategy alone has not proven to be effective.

Police initiatives

Prejudice-related data collection
 In October 1995, the NSW Minister for Police announced the establishment of the Hate Crimes Data Collection Project. In 1995 alterations were made to the COPS system to allow the recording of prejudice related crimes via the associated factor field. In 1998, these changes were modified and formalized with a pilot conducted in Newtown LAC. In July 1998, an evaluation report was prepared by Newtown LAC and submitted to the Commissioner of Police, Minister of Police and the Premier of NSW. The report recommended that following the successful trial of the data collection project in Newtown, changes to COPS be implemented state wide via a public launch of the project.

In October 1999, Commissioner Ryan and Mr. Stepan Kerkyasharian, Chair of the then Ethnic Affairs Commission, jointly launched the new computer screens to collect data on hate/prejudice motivated crimes in NSW. Under this data collection system, prejudice motivated incidents are recorded by the Police on the following basis:

1. Racial/Ethnicity
2. Sexual Preference
3. Religious
4. Political
5. Other

Prejudice related data continues to be recorded on the NSW Police COPS system.

Police-Arabic Youth Partnerships
 Police-Arabic Youth Partnerships is a NSW Premier’s Department led initiative, with NSW Police as a key stakeholder.

The Youth Liaison Teams established as part of the ‘Youth Partnership with Arabic Speaking Communities’ are perceived as a positive initiative. However, they are limited in what they are able to do. For example, due to safety reasons the young people who constitute the team cannot access some areas or undertake certain tasks. Therefore the initiative has only worked in some areas.

“They were supposed to target hot spots attended by groups of Arab youth, but sometimes don’t depending on the seriousness of the situation.”

Participants who were aware of the Partnership felt it does need an evaluation, especially those initiatives addressing the issues of the relationship between the community, youth and the police. They were not aware of any formal evaluation being conducted on all the initiatives, only of a few projects.

There was a general belief that it was essential to enhance partnerships between communities and police.

Police Education and Training
 New recruits at the Police College undertook a course called Police and Society, which included a Community Placement Program. Under the Community Placement Program, student police completed placements in a range of community organisations such as Migrant Resource Centres, and Drug and Alcohol Services. One participant mentioned that in a previous job, when she was responsible for managing the Youth Service in Wollongong, she supervised two probationery constables at her service under the Community Placement Program, and she felt that it was an extremely beneficial learning tool. Ministerial decisions under former Police Minister Michael Costa led to a restructure of Police education, and this course being discontinued. Aspects of the course “Police and society” were absorbed into other courses.

Many ECLOs expressed the need for such a program, as their links with community organisations demonstrated the value of such learning initiatives.

ECLO Program
 Strategies and work on the issue of strengthening partnerships between communities and police is happening on many different levels and has been happening for the last 16 years, particularly since the commencement of the ECLO Program.

ECLOs function as part of the Crime Management Unit within a Local Area Command. They also attend regular Tasking and Deployment Meetings at their Commands, to stay in touch with relevant information. ECLOs keep their Commands informed about community events, issues and concerns on a regular basis. They also report on initiatives and projects that they are involved in, or have initiated.

ECLO work consistently to convey community concerns to police, and address police information needs, so that their service delivery to diverse community members is culturally competent. With specific regard to Arabic communities, many ECLOs have initiated local interventions that have encouraged their community to relate to the police and seek assistance in times of need.

IMPACT Program
 Innovative Models for Police And Community Training or IMPACT, is a NSW Police funded program that provides funding for local projects between police and communities of diverse backgrounds on mutual training and education issues. Through the IMPACT Program, local police and communities can come together on issues critical to them, and find avenues of resolving this through training products or processes.

One such example of a local IMPACT project is the Parramatta Project, which looked at the relationship between police, young people and youth workers. The project produced a range of resources such as a service directory for youth service providers and police, which facilitated an improved understanding of each others’ roles. The project also conducted two-day cultural diversity training for police and youth service providers in the Parramatta area.

IMPACT Projects can be one proactive way for police and local communities to improve their working relationships. Other areas that have/had an IMPACT project are: Bankstown/Campsie, Kogarah, Penrith/St. Mary’s, Marrickville and Flemington Local Area Commands.

Increasing Volunteers in Policing (VIPs) from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities
Merrylands Police Station, through their ECLO, has increased the recruitment of VIPs from a range of backgrounds, including Arabic background volunteers. The VIP are managed by the Crime Prevention Officer at a Local Area Command. Involving community members from a range of professional, cultural, linguistic, age backgrounds in this Program is a way of educating communities about policing roles and the organisation.

Recruitment and Retention of Police Officers from Diverse Backgrounds
The NSW Police Strategy on the Recruitment & Retention of Police Officers from Diverse Backgrounds commenced with a view to facilitating an organization-wide, strategic, ‘change’ oriented response to a changing local and global environment, increasing the capacity to reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of the community in its workforce, and the realisation that a more informed and competent approach to the recruitment and retention of police can benefit the organisation.

To date, the Cultural Diversity Team, which has been coordinating this project, has facilitated the following stages:

A key focus of the consultation phase has been a series of forums for internal and external stakeholders. Eight such forums have been held.

The final consultation report is scheduled to be presented to the steering committee in early 2004.

3. What more could be done to fight anti-Arab and anti-Muslim prejudice and discrimination?

Promoting positive public awareness
The community has been using academics to discuss theological aspects of Islam and believe that other religions should follow suit.

A suggestion was made that places like shopping centres and schools could have window displays for other religious festivals, the way they have for Christmas. That way the different cultures get acknowledged and integrated as equal partners in Australia.

Some participants believed that the Arabic and Islamic community in their area are isolated and there are no festivals to their knowledge that celebrate and express their culture positively. Therefore there is a general belief that the Arabic and Islamic community need to promote themselves more positively.

“Apart from the bad news, [the community] don’t know anything about [Muslims] except that they go to the mosque.”

Challenging stereotypes
 Most ECLOs believe that the police have been highly proactive and responsive to the issue of discrimination against the community.

Most thought that educating everyone in the Police Service, police and ECLOs included, on different cultures by having them attend cultural awareness training should be made compulsory.

Providing community support
 In the Northern Beaches area there is a significant number of the Indonesian Muslim community. The women who wear the hijab or the veil, after the Bali bombings, in particular, were targets of racially abusive comments and were afraid to report the incidents to police. The ECLO in that area believes that the Indonesian community has begun to trust the ECLO working at the police station as the women have someone they feel comfortable with. She encourages and assists women to familiarise themselves with reporting procedures.

Another participant commented that breaking down cultural and communication barriers between police and community, and therefore challenging misconceptions they may have of each other, is an essential strategy. For example, a Senior Police Officer from one Command was invited as a guest to speak informally to a large group of Iraqi refugees. This proved very effective in encouraging that group of refugees to feel more confident in coming to the police, should any incident arise.

Ensuring complaints are taken seriously
 There was a general consensus that the Arabic and Muslim community (including Muslims of diverse ethnic backgrounds and Arabs of diverse religious backgrounds) is unwilling to come forward and complain and that there is a general lack of awareness in the community about the procedures. Possibly out of fear, there is a lack of knowledge about rights and laws. This is apparently more so for refugees.

Discussion also centred on what action police can take when reports of discrimination/vilification are made to them. It is a NSW Police priority as well as an ECLO priority to encourage community to report incidents, as no action can be taken unless reports are made. In encouraging communities to report, it must be acknowledged that often the level of trust in police action is not high. ECLOs spend a substantial amount of their time in building up this trust in police by communities.

Secondly the issue is, once community does report an incident, what action can be reasonably expected of the police? For incidents such as name-calling in the street, or being spat on, where generally victims do not have witnesses, and the identity of perpetrators is unknown, what action can police realistically take? ECLOs were only too conscious of the community fears generated by such acts, and the need for reassurance from local police. Every such incident report is a source of intelligence for local police, to build up a picture of overall discriminatory/vilifying acts within a Command. Reports of such incidents could also be the prompt for Local Area Commanders to meet with community members, or appear in local media (radio/press) with reassuring statements. Increased police patrols in particular areas may also be a course of action chosen by a Command in response to such reports.

ECLOs however acknowledged that such strategic interventions may not provide satisfaction for individual complainants, whose perpetrators may not get apprehended or punished.

Some of the participants believe that police officers need reminding that recording data is not just about recording events or crimes, but also includes recording incidents that are neither events nor crimes. The group also believe that it is very important that police officers are aware they need to record all complaints.

All states have a National Anti-Racism Training Package, which is in the process of being implemented.

For more information about NSWP EAPS, Cultural Diversity Team (CDT) and relevant projects/initiatives, visit the police website: www.police.nsw.gov.au or contact Operational Policy & Programs Unit on (02) 8835 9541.