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Conference papers

Innovation, partnerships and policing : a teams approach to remote service delivery

Cmdr Murray Lampard
Commander North Eastern Region, WA Police Service

Presented at:
Evaluation in Crime and Justice : Trends and Methods
ABS House, Canberra
24-25 March 2003

Abstract

Following the release of Magistrate Sue Gordon's report in 2002, the Premier of Western Australia, Dr Geoff Gallop, announced funding of $75 million for initiatives aimed at combating child abuse and family violence in Aboriginal communities. The Western Australian Government has identified nine key remote communities for intervention in regards to safety of women and children, health, education and crime. There will be significant monetary investment by government into community safety, security and health issues. The Western Australia Police have a key leadership and co-ordinating role in supporting and directing the delivery of multi agency services. There will also be an innovative strategic partnership between police from three state jurisdictions, Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory, to perform multijurisdictional policing in border areas. This presentation discusses the key issues raised by the Gordon report, the resulting government strategies and the significant service delivery challenges that these present for the Western Australia Police Service. The paper highlights past tensions in the relationship between academia and policing organisations, and stresses the need for researchers and evaluators to partner with the policing services to provide strategic focus for and credible evaluation and review of this new service delivery project.