Community policing in Australasia: Lessons from the community

CAEPR Seminar Series August 15, 2007
Manuhuia Barcham (Director, Centre for Indigenous Governance and Development, Massey University)
Abstract: Much of the community policing literature looks at the ways in which police officers are able to more effectively interact with the community in terms of the maintenance of law and order and other policing functions. Less attention, however, is paid to the ways in which communities police themselves and how this impacts on policing more generally. Looking at the case of indigenous community policing initiatives in Australia and New Zealand this paper explores the impact that this form of policing is having in these communities. The paper ends by discussing how these types of initiatives might be usefully transferred through to other policing environments such as the Pacific Islands.