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ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY

REGIONAL REPORT

OF INQUIRY INTO

INDIVIDUAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

VOLUME 2

Commonwealth, Western Australia

ROYAL COMMISSION INTO ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY

REGIONAL REPORT

OF INQUIRY INTO

INDIVIDUAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY

IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

VOLUME 2

BY

COMMISSIONER THE HONOURABLE D.J. O'DEA

Australian Government Publishing Service Canberra

© Commonwealth of Australia 1991 ISBN (Volume 2) 0 644 14133 6 ISBN (the set) 0 644 14115 8

This work is copyright. Apart from any use as pennitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written pennission from the Australian Government Publishing Service. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Manager, AGPS Press, GPO Box 84, Canberra ACT 2601.

Printed in Australia by P. J. GRILLS, Commonwealth Government Printer, Canberra

5.2.5 SUPERVISION AND CELL CHECKS

The police basically have a twofold role in relation to the detention and

supervision of persons in their custodial facilities, first, to keep detainees secure

and prevent them from escaping and secondly to ensure that detainees are

adequately cared for, providing for their health and well-being. My inquiries

have revealed that until recent times the emphasis of police policies and practices

was on the first role relating to security with scant attention paid to the duties of

the police in relation to caring for detainees.

The need to change the emphasis has been recognised by the Police Department.

In the Submission of the Commissioner of Police and the West Australian Police

Department to the RCIADIC (May 1990) it was stated (at pp 16-17):

The traditional role of police with respect to the management of lockups was to keep the lockup reasonably clean and quiet, to feed detainees, keep them from escaping, and to get them to court on time.

As the police officers responsible for the management of lockups are also responsible for other policing duties, the current emphasis on health and well-being of detainees, requires a shift in emphasis of policy and procedures to enable proper management.

The physical structure of the majority of existing police lockups limits audio and visual contact between police and detainees with the result that the type of supervision required to provide detainees with protection from themselves and others in an effective and efficient manner, is almost impossible.

As a result, options have been developed to bring the philosophy and technology of lockup management into line with contemporary standards. The base line for the Police Department and the Commissioner has been an acceptance of the current standards of care and daily operations are structured around this philosophy.

The Commissioner of Police acknowledges that adequate policies and procedures must be established and followed in practice. These must also be supported by needs-based training to ensure that procedures are clear and members are in fact, able to implement the policies of the organisation.

IT IS THE POLICY OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIA POLICE FORCE TO EXERT EVERY POSSIBLE EFFORT TO PREVENT

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LOCKUP DEATHS AND SUICIDES INCLUDING THE SCREENING OF DETAINEES AND APPROPRIATE SURVEILLANCE.

To implement the policy the Police Department has considered further training,

awareness raising, policy and procedure revision and better personnel

management within existing resources. They have also given attention to

maintaining records of supervision practices, the viability of electronic

surveillance, installation of alarm systems and the need for adequate support

services and liaison with community resources. These issues are discussed in

more detail below.

5.2.5.1 What the Cases Have Shown

In all of the deaths I have investigated arising out of police custody, the level of

supervision afforded to the detainees during the period for which they were

incarcerated, was inadequate. As noted in the previous section dealing with

Assessment and Screening, the inadequacies were discussed in the individual

reports into the deaths where I emphasised the duty of care owed by police to

detainees.

The following examples are illustrative of the inadequacies I have found

throughout my case inquiries.

Christine Jones

Christine Jones was found dead within fifteen minutes of being placed in a cell at

Midland Police Station Lockup. As noted in Section 5.2.3, proper assessment

would have indicated that her condition required medical attention and that in the

interim the police needed to keep her under continuous supervision. This case

shows how quickly death can occur where a person in a highly distressed

condition is placed in a lockup alone and the need for continuous supervision in

these circumstances.

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Albert Dougal

Albert Dougal as discussed in Section 5.2.4, dealing with detention of

unconscious persons, was placed in the lockup in an unconscious condition. In

the report into his death I described the cell checks as 'haphazard'.

Dougal was placed in the Broome Lockup at 8.45 pm. It was not until 7.30 am

the following morning that an ambulance was called. During the period that

Dougal was in the lockup only one cell check was noted in the police station

occurrence book. This was at 2.55 am just prior to the police going off duty. I

found that the police visited the cells on other occasions during the night but were

not concerned about Dougal's condition. These other visits were not recorded in

the Occurrence Book. During these visits the police officers made no effort to

ascertain his condition or state of health. The police assumed he was drunk.

Broome Police Station was effectively not staffed from 1.00 am until 7.30 am.

Even if other prisoners in the lockup had become aware of Dougal's condition

they would have been unable to alert the police.

The situation at Broome Police Station continues today with the police station not

being staffed from 2.00 am or 3.00 am until 7.00 am. Adequate supervision of

detainees cannot be provided under these circumstances.

Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson was arrested and detained at Wiluna Lockup for drunkenness

on a Saturday afternoon. He was unable to be appropriately assessed at the time

of detention due to his intoxicated condition. One cell check was recorded half an

hour after his admission. The only other cell check recorded on Saturday night

was at 11.00 pm. The following Sunday one police aide only was on duty. He

performed two cell checks during the day. The police aide described what was

required when performing a cell check:

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We would just pop into the lockup, count heads and keep going.

[RCIADIC W16:206]

If they felt crook they had to come and ask and we would say 'Well, go up to the nursing post'. [RCIADIC Wl6:208]

On Sunday night the OIC conducted cell checks at 6.00 pm and 8.00 pm. The

Police Station was unstaffed overnight. At 7.00 am the following morning

Anderson was found dead in the lockup having died as a result of epilepsy.

The supervision and cell checks conducted during the period of Anderson's

detention were unsatisfactory. No active inquiries were made of detainees to

ascertain whether they required anything for their health or well-being. Anderson

was a known epileptic and was also known to ask for his medication when

detained. It was unlikely that the deceased would have had the opportunity to

request his medication given the infrequent and perfunctory nature of the cell

checks.

Wiluna Police Station is still not staffed overnight although prisoners may be

detained there.

Kim Polak

Kim Polak was detained in the Kalgoorlie Lockup on Tuesday afternoon,

26 March 1985. He was assessed as 'intoxicated' although he was in fact quite

ill. That evening he was observed by other prisoners to be vomiting. The following day his condition was much the same. He was unable to eat, and told

the sergeant 'he had a crook stomach'. This officer had also observed that

Polak's hands were shaking badly and attributed this to delirium tremens. He did

not consider it necessary to call a doctor.

Polak's condition remained the same and he vomited whenever he had any food

or fluid. On the Thursday morning he told another Sergeant that he was 'crook'

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from alcohol. The officer did not find this surprising. He considered there was a

difference between being 'sick' and 'sick from the booze'. During the Thursday

afternoon Polak had a fit and although it was wimessed by other prisoners they

did not bring it to the attention of the police: Later in the afternoon a prisoner

alerted the police that Polak could not be roused. He was examined by the

sergeant who could find no signs of life.

The police officers in this case did not consider that the symptoms of withdrawal

from alcohol constituted an illness requiring medical treatment. The two

sergeants who conducted most of the cell checks during Polak's period of

detention had no knowledge of the risks and little of the symptoms of acute

alcohol withdrawal. The police relied upon those in custody to draw it to their

attention if they were unwell or required medical treatment. Polak was seriously

ill and although he may have been reluctant to seek out medical attention his ability to appreciate the seriousness of his condition is questionable.

Bernard McGrath

Bernard McGrath died by hanging in the Kalgoorlie Lockup. I found that he died

between 12.20 am and 12.30 am on Sunday, 15 November 1985. Police

officers placed another prisoner in the cells at 12.35 am who noticed Bernard

hanging from the cell door. At 1.00 am that prisoner was removed from the

lockup for questioning by the police. The prisoner told the police there was 'a

dead bloke' in the cell. The police did not believe him. When the prisoner was

returned to the lockup at 2.00 am one of the officers asked 'Where' s the body?'

to which the prisoner replied 'You' II find out'. The police did not conduct a

check of the lockup.

At 3.00 am the officer in charge of the shift conducted a cell check. He claimed

that he entered the lockup and counted the prisoners and reaching the correct

tally, left the lockup. At the time Bernard was dead and if the cell check had been

properly conducted his body would have been discovered.

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The officer was subsequently charged under the Police Regulations and

disciplined for his failure to properly carry out the cell check.

As I noted in the report into McGrath's death, if the cell check was inadequate

there was a good reason. The officer who conducted the cell check was alone in

the police station. There were twelve prisoners in the lockup. It was

unreasonable to expect that a single officer could properly conduct a cell check in

those circumstances. The staffing at the Police Station that night was unusually

low with only three officers on duty. As I said in the McGrath report: 'This was

manifestly incompatible with the proper supervision of prisoners in the lockup

and the maintenance of staff safety' .

The issues raised by these and other cases, discussed in more detail below, are as

follows:

the adequacy of supervision

the records of cell checks

communication of observations by officers to the officer in charge

problem of adequate staffing levels

lack of twenty-four hour supervision at country lockups

the physical structure oflockups and the impact on supervision

the utilisation of other prisoners to monitor the wellbeing of detainees

electronic surveillance and alarms

liaison with other support services.

5.2.5.2 Current Police Practices

The orders and instructions of the Police Department relating to supervision and

cell checks are as follows :

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Routine Orders

16-8.2

16-8.3

16-8.3./

16-8.3.2

16-8.4

On each occasion when commencing duty, a member who is in charge of a lockup shall personally visit the cells and take over the prisoners in the presence of the member being relieved and also take over the property which is specified in paragraph 16-8.13.

The member in charge of a lockup shall ensure that the locks of all cells or other places where prisoners are confined and all doors leading to yards or passages from the cells or such other yards or passages from the

cells or such other places are securely locked.

The security of prisoners is the responsibility of the member in charge of a lockup and the security risk that each prisoner presents will need to be assessed according to the particular circumstances. Not only should measures be taken to prevent an escape, but also to protect prisoners from themselves or other prisoners if the need arises.

When assessing what security measures should be implemented for a prisoner, consideration should be given to:-(1) the nature of the offence committed; (e.g. sex

offences against children, murder, terrorist activities)

(2) the antecedents of the prisoner; (e.g. history of escapes)

(3) the behaviour of the prisoner at the time; (e.g. violent or suicidal)

(4) whether the lockup facilities and staff availability are adequate to provide for the segregation and/or constant supervision of a prisoner if so required.

(2) each prisoner who is held in a cell or other place of confinement is visited frequently by a member for the purpose of ascertaining the prisoner's reasonable needs;

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Police Gazette Notice. 13.1.88

(v) Observation of a person demonstrating mental and/or physical distress, including those suffering from the effects of alcohol or drugs, should be made with sufficient frequency to ensure the well-being of the person involved.

Instruction of P .M. Myles. Supt Regional Officer Perth 14.7.88

Re.· Inmates of Lock-up- Welfare and Safety.

It is essential that where there is a lock-up in use at any Police Station the precautions against deaths in custody are observed.

Instructions have already been circulated about frequently visiting prisoners in cells and recording such visits either in occurrence books or books for the purpose.

0./.C.s of Stations are to check to ensure that visits are made and recorded. Entries should be initialled when checking. Divisional Officers or their Assistants are to make frequent checks to see that safeguards are carried out, properly recorded and monitored.

Should the Regional Officer or perhaps the Commander of the Inspectorate visit the station and check this aspect he will complete the chain of monitoring. Should there be any neglect in this respect it will reflect on us all.

P .M . Myles Superintendent Regional Officer Perth Ext. 1077 July 14,1988

Custodial Care Manual

The following suggestions are made in the Custodial Care Manual (distributed to

officers who attend the Custodial Care course) as ways to prevent deaths in

custody. They are not instructions of the Commissioner of Police.

( 11) If it is necessary to detain an offender and there is any doubt as to the mental state of the prisoner and there is insufficient staff available to maintain a watch on such prisoner then transfer to a continuous duty (24 hour station) centre is to be

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considered and if deemed necessary then the transfer of the prisoner is to be carried out.

( 12) Regular cell checks are to be conducted during the period of the offenders incarceration until !he offender is either released to bail, transferred or released after court.

( 13) Cell checks are to be conducted on a half hourly basis more frequently if possible and such cell visits are to be recorded in the station occurrences and to be included are any obvious change in the condition of the prisoner ie, restlessness,

demeanour and attitude. Also reference is to be made as to whether the prisoner is awake or sleeping etc.

( 16) Under no circumstances is a distressed prisoner to be left un­ supervised.

( 17) Reliable prisoners who are permitted to sleep on beds in the compound at night could act as monitors, and call station 0/C should a problem arise after close of station.

At one man stations where the 0/C is called away, and a prisoner is in custody, arrangements could be made for local ambulance driver or nurse to visually check inmate as an additional safeguard.

( 19) Where possible, arrests on warrant are made at a time when it is suitable for local police to convey prisoner to nearest regional centre to obviate necessity in retaining prisoner at an unmanned lockup .

(20) Where the prisoner's disposition or mental stability is suspect, the prisoner is to be conveyed to regional centre as soon as possible to allow more adequate supervision in custody.

(22) Early warning device (alarm) to be installed in a cell in the lockup, with direct link to OIC' s quarters.

In the event of a prisoner requiring medical attention or other urgent assistance, the OIC can be alerted and investigate.

A report proposing to both permit and encourage civilian visitors to lockups , has been submitted to the Commissioner

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for consideration. This proposal originated in South Hedland.

The Police Department is of the view that the current instructions in regard to

supetvision and cell checks are adequate. (Responses of Commissioner of Police

to Specific Questions Raised by RCIADIC Q.lO.l p.38)

Frequency of Cell Checks

Although the Routine Orders do not specify how frequently cell checks are to be

conducted, the custodial care manual suggests that they should be conducted as

frequently as every half an hour. This however does not appear to be the current

practice. It was suggested to Commissioner Bull that the Routine Orders should

provide some guidance as to the frequency that cell checks should be conducted.

However he resisted such a proposal.

Counsel. Assisting (C.A.):

CmrBull:

Now would I be right in saying that there is nothing in routine orders to give any guidance to members as to how frequently they should be conducted, how they should be conducted or even whether they should be recorded.

That has changed. With the new instructions they certainly are to do them as frequent as circumstances dictate but again there can't be - you've got to be flexible according to the type of prisoner and also the

nature of the station, mindful that outside of the metropolitan area only my regions - my eight regions -sorry, seven of my eight regions work 24 hours a day. All other stations statewide do not work 24 hours a

day. Frequently they would cease - and I have a schedule within my submission and that's the one we spoke of today but they would finish around midnight, 1 o'clock in the morning, rare for them to go beyond that.

And, of course, many of them after that time, many of them still have prisoners in custody and because of their isolation there's no opportunity to transfer those prisoners. So it's because you can't have, you know,

rigid orders that can be enforced statewide because of the difficulties. But even in the metropolitan area- we had a situation at Rockingham, you know, which is still fairly well out, and where two officers on duty arrested a person, placed them in custody, made

520

arrangements for the prisoner to be transferred to Fremantle because they couldn't go to bail, in the interim received another call, they had to attend to, they attended to that call, in the interim the person

committed suicide.

There is inability to have sufficient staff at all of these stations where they can regularly do these checks.

C.A.: Well, if routine orders though are the guideline for members by and large, why not say: as a guideline to members cell checks should be conducted hourly, as a guideline .

Cmr Bull: But again you say hourly and they do it precisely just­ only do it hourly. You know, this is the difficulty with orders even if they are only for guidance. I want them to do them and this is the way the new ones are framed, that they must do them according to prevailing

circumstances. If they've got a person that is a risk factor I'd be expecting them to do them every jew minutes, or constantly observing the person, not doing them hourly.

C.A.: Well, the officer in charge of the station could say: well, there's nothing in routine orders to even give me a guide as to how often they should be conducted. I will decide that there'll be three ---Cmr Bull: We say at least hourly- we say at least hourly.

But we don't want them, you know, to just sit and believe that that' s all they have to do.

C. A.: That' s in the new- it's in the new orders, is it: at least hourly?

Cmr Bull: Yes, yes.

C.A.: But the current routine orders don't provide that, do they?

Cmr Bull: No, no. No, it's at least hourly they are now required to do them .

C.A.: I see. All right. Is there any in these new routine

orders - I don't have them, but in the new routine orders is there any ---Cmr Bull: No, they're still being written.

(Conference with Commissioner Bull 31.7.90:659-660)

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The difficulty of the Department in this regard is recognised however the

experience of the Royal Commission has clearly shown that more specific

guidelines as to frequency of cell checks are required.

Commissioner Muirhead (as he then was) recommended in the Interim Report of

the Royal Commission that persons detained in custody should be closely

monitored for the first six hours as international research has shown this period

to be crucial. Recommendation 15 stated:

15. Persons detained in custody must be closely monitored for the first six hours of detention and the appearance of the person should be recorded. Where persons detained are apparently intoxicated or appear angry or disturbed, very close

surveillance must be maintained.

It would not be difficult to draft guidelines requiring cell checks to be conducted

every thirty minutes or one hour with the proviso that this is to take place when

the police station is staffed.

24 Hour Supervision

I must make it clear however, that I do not regard the current practice of detaining

prisoners in unstaffed police lockups as acceptable. There clearly cannot be

adequate supervision in such circumstances.

The Police Department and the Commissioner of Police in their submission to the

Royal Commission commented on this issue:

The monitoring of prisoners in country lockups after hours remains of concern. Where stations are not manned continually prisoners must be left unattended for several hours. Even if sufficient resources were available to place officers on continuous duty, the unpredictable nature of police work would mean that continuous monitoring is neither practical nor possible.

Attached to this submission is a schedule of lockups in this State, together with options for continuous supervision and availability of alternative procedures. It is the Commissioner's belief that only a

522

substantial commitment of resources by Government could achieve the optimum conditions and in the absence of such a commitment, existing police practices are the best that can be offered.

The four options provided by the Police Department to ensure country police

stations are manned 24 hours a day are as follows:

Option

1. Provision of 24 hour police service at all country police stations (1753 additional staff at 122 police stations)

2.

3.

4 .

Provision of a permanent lockup keeper at all country police stations (610 additional staff at 122 police stations)

Provision of 24 hour police service at 20 larger police stations ( 161 additional staff at 20 police stations)

Provision of a permanent lockup keeper/guardian at larger police stations (1 00 additional staff at 20 police stations)

Cost

$280.5 million

$97.5 million

$25.7 million

$15.9 million

The other option not adequately explored by the Police Department is to limit

overnight detentions to police stations where 24 hour service is available and to

ensure that if a prisoner is unable to be transferred to a 24 hour police station or

alternatively a Corrective Services institution, that they are released on bail if

possible or additional staff are rostered on duty on a needs basis.

Adeguacy of Supervision

The cases I investigated showed that when cell checks were conducted they were

usually no more than a head count, if that. Rarely were active inquiries made of

the detainees as to their health and wellbeing or whether they had any particular

needs. This reflects the previous emphasis of the police on maintaining security

rather than caring for prisoners.

523

The need to provide guidance to officers as to how they should conduct cell

checks was raised with Commissioner Bull and again he was reluctant to agree

that such guidance was necessary maintaining the need to keep a flexible

approach. The evidence in this regard is as follows:

C.A.: Is there any guidance given to members as to how they should conduct cell checks? And /' ll preface that question by saying that we' ve often heard evidence that cell checks didn't amount to too much more than a head count.

Cmr Bull: Yeah. That again depends on the circumstances. Now, the difficulty of, say, physically waking a prisoner in a cell check once every hour - now, that causes difficulties. You put a person in there that wants sleep and you're waking them up every hour -particularly if they have been drinking, generally they'll become very aggressive being woken up .

And who wouldn't? If someone comes waking me up at every hour of the night/' d probably get a bit upset too. When they want to sleep and we're shaking them and telling 'em that they've gotta wake up. And it's the security aspect of-particularly in, say, the larger lock­ ups in regard to this, there are difficulties in physically going waking people up on the hour or whatever time there may just- and for what purpose?

If they have a difficult[y] that we weren't aware of and they do die, well, all you achieve is perhaps you have detected the fact that they're dead within a shorter period.

C.A.: Yes . Do you say it's not necessary to give members any guidance at all as to how they should conduct a cell check?

Cmr Bull: Because it' s got to be flexible . I mean, when I say -there is guidance but it can' t be rigid because it's- in the new routine orders we've tried to give them guidance as to, you know, what they should be looking for. But again it's going to vary according to, say, the bulk of the prisoners who don' t cause any problems, who don't

have any medical problems, to those that, you know, perhaps have potential.

And therefore it's again it's got to be flexible. You can't have rigid instructions that are going to cover all of these situations .

524

C.A.: You agree though that members should be given guidelines and understand they ---Cmr Bull: They've gotta be given guidelines, yes.

C. A.: But at the moment they don't seem to have any.

Cmr Bull: Not to the extent- in the current routine orders they have to some degree but they're probably not sufficient.

(Conference with Commissioner of Police 31.7.90:660-1)

I agree with Commissioner Bull 's conclusion that the current routine orders are

not sufficient. Additional training and guidance is required. In individual reports

I have stressed that adequate cell checks involve making active inquiries of

detainees as to their health, medication requirements and other needs whilst

detained.

The Webster Committee were also of the view that further training and guidance

was needed in relation to supervision of detainees.

Records of Cell Cbecks

As noted above the frequency of cell checks as revealed by my inquiries has, in

many instances, been shown to be unsatisfactory. In a number of cases police

officers on duty during the period of the deceased's detention claimed that the

cells were visited although no record was made of the fact, saying that it was not

the practice at the time.

Commissioner Bull infonned the Royal Commission that he had issued an order

within the last twelve months requiring police officers to record all cell checks on

the Police Station Occurrence Book, the record which is kept in all Police

Stations of police activities. (See Commissioner Bull's evidence 31.7.90:662)

However the Responses of the Police Commissioner to Specific Questions

Raised by the RCIADIC stated that there was no official requirement that cell

525

checks be recorded although 'over time a practice has grown that this is so and

members now do this as a matter of course' (Q.10.2, p.38)

As correctly informed by the Police Department, no such order has in fact been

issued although a suggestion in the Custodial Care Manual (see reference to point

(13) above) directed members to conduct cell checks half hourly and record them

in the Occurrence Book. As the section of the Report dealing with police training

notes, not all members of the Police Force received the Custodial Care training.

Since Commissioner Bull gave evidence to the Royal Commission the

requirement that cell checks be recorded has been reinforced by an order issued

by Commissioner Bull on 27.8.90 and recently published in a Gazette Notice.

The instruction is as follows:

(2) Cell Checks

Existing orders require that prisoners be visited regularly to ensure their safety and welfare and to determine their reasonable needs.

Members conducting cell checks are to have possession of the cell keys during each check and must record the time of each check and their observations of each prisoner. Cell checks may be recorded in the Occurrence Book, on Prisoners' Cards where these are used, or in any other suitable book maintained for this purpose.

Communication of Observations to Officer in Charge

In several cases I examined I found that although individual officers had made

observations that there was something wrong with the deceased, the singular

observation was not sufficient to alert the officer to the seriousness of the

situation. The observations were not recorded or passed on to the OIC of the

shift. If the OIC at the time had been aware of all the singular observations of the

officers on duty he would have been in a much better position to make a proper

assessment of the detainee and determine appropriate supervision.

In the inquiry into Morrison's death, I found the arresting officers did not

communicate their observations of the deceased's bizarre conduct prior to and at

526

the time of his arrest to the OIC or the lockup keeper prior to his placement in a

cell. The arresting officers who attended Morrison at the cells after their return to

the police station were not aware of Morrison's unusual and aggressive

behaviour at the police station. The lack of .communication amongst officers

contributed to the lack of appreciation of Morrison's mental state. Morrison died

by hanging within an hour of placement in the cells.

The case of Waigana has been discussed previously. It showed an appalling lack

of communication amongst officers as to the condition of the deceased. A

number of police officers on duty during the period of Waigana's detention made

observations of Waigana which if brought to the attention of the OIC should have

prompted him to consider that the deceased needed some form of treatment. He

did not smell of alcohol but appeared intoxicated; he complained of pain in the

head; he hallucinated; he manifested terror and claimed that someone was trying

to kill him. As these matters were not conveyed to the OIC he failed to grasp the

full significance of the deceased's strange conduct. Waigana died from delirium

tremens in the East Perth Lockup.

The lack of communication between police officers, particularly in busy police

stations like East Perth, indicates the need to have effective systems whereby

there is communication of information necessary to the adequate supervision of a

detainee and that one officer has overall responsibility for the supervision of

detainees.

It would appear that to ensure adequate communication of information about a

detainee there should be a requirement that all observations of a detainee which

may indicate that the person is at risk need to be communicated both orally and in

writing. The Occurrence Book and the trial Admission Record referred to in the

Assessment and Screening section would be appropriate places for information

about a detainee's condition or behaviour to be recorded. The information should

also be communicated orally to the OIC or the person allocated the responsibility

for supervision of detainees. This is discussed in more detail below.

527

Responsibility for Supervision

In the section of the Report dealing with assessment of detainees, I discussed the

need for one officer to be allocated the responsibility of assessing the condition of

a detainee, similarly it would appear necessary that one officer is allocated

responsibility of supervision of persons after their detention. Commissioner

Bull indicated in his evidence to the Royal Commission that the OIC of the shift

is responsible for supervision of the Police Station, including the lockup and

welfare of prisoners in custody. (Transcript of evidence of Commissioner Bull

31.7.90:612.)

The final report of the Webster Committee also recommended that one officer

should be nominated on each shift to perform supervision duties in all major

lockups. The relevant recommendations have been listed in the Assessment

Section but I list them again below:

5 . That physical surveillance of prisoners continues to be performed by the "cells man", supplemented by the 0/C where necessary/feasible.

7. That responsibility for the surveillance of prisoners also be vested in the OIC or relief sergeant.

8 . That within country areas similar parameters of responsibility be established, subject to local conditions and availability of staff

I support these recommendations.

Physical Structure of Lockups

Both the Submission of the Commissioner of Police and the Police Department

to the RCIADIC (May 1990) and the Webster Committee Report have noted the

impact that the physical structure of lockups has on the supervision of detainees.

528

The Webster Committee made the following brief comment on lockup design

and the surveillance of prisoners:

(a) Lockup design- surveillance of prisoners

The working party were most forthright in their statements concerning the existing facilities, design of lockups and prisoner observation/scrutiny. Police Officers on the working party supported the belief that the working conditions and lockup design were both highly negative factors with respect to improving care

services in custody. The East Perth Lockup was visited on several occasions by working party members and it was noted as being less than adequate in terms of prisoner scrutiny, hygiene and assessment. Police Officers working in this area were disadvantaged by both the layout and those functions expected of them in dealing with the processing of prisoners.

The inadequate design of the majority of police lockups is discussed in more

detail in the section of the Report on Police Cells. I recognise the difficulties that

poor lockup design and facilities present for police officers responsible for

supervision and care of detainees. The fact that poor cell design makes easy

supervision of detainees almost impossible means that police officers need to be

even more vigilant in regard to their supenrision practices.

Other Prisoners in the LockuD

The Custodial Care Manual suggests using reliable prisoners to act as monitors

and to call the ore should a problem arise after the close of a station. It is noted

in the section dealing with cell design that the Carnarvon Lockup has an alann in

the cell usually occupied by a trustee prisoner so that attention can be sought if

the need arises. The use of other prisoners in the lockup to assist in the

supervision of prisoners has also been raised by Dr Reser ( 1989). He discusses

cell designs which foster unobtrusive monitoring whereby staff and detainees

know what is going on and monitoring for detainees' wellbeing can be carried

out by one or more of the detainees. He suggests that good cell design makes

high technology electronic monitoring unnecessary (Reser,l989:9).

529

The Police Department have already implemented a policy of placing Aboriginal

detainees in multi person cells where possible, primarily to reduce the feeling of

isolation of detainees, but this also has positive benefits in terms of prisoners

being in a position to keep an eye on the wellbeing of other detainees.

I pointed out in the section of the Report dealing with the hanging/self harm

deaths, that in all but one of these cases in Western Australia, the deceased was

alone in the cell at the time of his or her death. The significance of the W A

experience is even greater when placed in the national and international context

where research has shown that an overwhelming proportion of suicides in

custody occur in isolation. (Rowan J.R.&L.M. Hayes,1988; Biles D.,Mcdonald,

D.&J. Fleming, 1989)

However it would be dangerous for a practice to develop whereby police relied

upon detainees to notify them of any problems relating to another detainee's

health or wellbeing. In several cases I have examined the other detainees in the

lockup have not informed the police officers that a detainee was ill. It is also

unreasonable to expect detainees to have the same level of understanding and

awareness as the police of conditions requiring attention, medical or otherwise,

e.g. in Polak the observations of detainees as to the deceased's ill health were not

communicated in full to the police officers on duty.

Finally, there may be instances whereby a detainee needs to be protected from

other detainees in the lockup. The police have a duty to ensure that detainees do

not come to harm through the action of other detainees in the lockup, e.g. in

Njanii the deceased was hit over the head by a piece of wood while detained in

the lockup.

Electronic Surveillance

As has been noted by Reser, with proper lockup design the use of electronic

surveillance techniques is unnecessary. As he points out 1[i]t is still necessary

530

for someone to scan video monitors, and such a system further reduces

staff/detainee contact and interaction, exacerbating the problem of sensed

isolation thought to be an important factor in the suicides.' I agree with Reser's

conclusions.

The Submission of the Commissioner of Police and the Police Department to the

RCIADIC May 1990 also discussed the issue of electronic surveillance. It states:

Electronic Surveillance

The Commissioner endorses the view of the Billing committee that continuous monitoring of detainees should be the endeavour in all custodial establishments and electronic surveillance should only supplement the personal approach and only in special cells or holding areas.

To date, the costs associated with installation have precluded implementation. Apart from capital costs, electronic surveillance is only appropriate in areas with a 24 hour police presence and adequate personnel to monitor the equipment.

Instead safety at East Perth lockup is being enhanced by the provision of a holding cell with two-way viewing window to reduce feelings of isolation and despair. Similar modifications have been made to a holding room for female or juvenile detainees.

I agree with the Submission in that the personal approach favouring human

contact and personal interaction is the better method of supervision of detainees.

Liaison with Support Services

The Report of the Webster Committee highlights the importance of police officers

having access to appropriate support services. In this regard the Committee has

recommended the establishment of a Forensic Medical Support Service which

would provide on-call medical/nursing services to support police officers

responsible for the supervision of detainees.

The Report also suggests the need to provide officers with further training in

regard to the utilisation of liaison services such as the Aboriginal Visitors

531

Scheme; Community and Welfare Services, Alcohol and Drug Authority; Sexual

Assault and Referral Centre; State Government Forensic Service and

Church/Chaplaincy Services (see Final Report of Webster Committee p.8). I

regard the establishment of proper liaison with such services as an important

aspect of providing care services to detainees and I discuss in more detail in the

section dealing with Contacts in Police Custody.

In the section of the Report dealing with Medical Assistance Available to Police I

discuss the merits of the establishment of a Forensic Medical Support Service.

5.2.6 LOCKUP KEEPER AND WELFARE OFFICER

The Role and Duties of a Lockup Keeper were described by Chief Superintendent

Rise borough and Senior Sergeant Lacy in the Inquiry into the death of Waigana.

They said:

The role of Lockup Keeper is to basically maintain the lockup itself He is not connected with the normal shifts.

The Lockup Keeper's duties would be providing for cleaning, making sure that the kitchen is functional, that the cells are operational and other practical matters.

The Lockup Keeper would also be directly in charge of the supervision of the trustees although he himself is under the supervision of the Officer in Charge of the lockup .

The Lockup Keeper is a permanent position and he works day shift from seven in the morning until three in the afternoon. It is a position of relatively longstanding. (W/14/40).

Petmanent Lockup Keepers are attached to Central (East Perth), Midland and

Fremantle police stations. Narrogin and Albany police stations have officers

designated as such in combination with other duties. In addition to the day to day

running of the lockup, lockup keepers also have some welfare duties.

In addition to lockup keepers, the position of welfare officer/welfare sergeant has

been introduced to the East Perth Lockup. It is a 24 hour per day, seven day per

532

week position. The Welfare Sergeant is responsible for assessing each individual

prisoner and ensuring that adequate standards of custodial care are maintained,

including welfare, medical, legal and basic human needs. East Perth Lockup is

the only Police Station where such a position has been introduced. Riseborough

and Lacy further described duties of welfare sergeant at the East Perth Lockup as

follows:

The position of welfare officer or welfare sergeant was introduced at the [East Perth] lockup in March of 1988. The welfare sergeant conducts corridor patrols throughout the lockup and these are performed constantly throughout his shift - unless he is at the charge

counter processing a prisoner or prisoners who have just been admitted.

The Welfare Sergeant sees every prisoner that is brought in and assesses them at the charge counter. His assessment is made by visual evidence and by what the prisoner tells the officers regarding his medical condition.

If a prisoner requires medication that is noted on the prisoner processing card.

If it is considered by the Assistant Reserve Officer (who completes the Prisoners Property Form) or the arresting officer (who searches the prisoner) that medical attention is required, then the final decision is usually left to the judgment of the Welfare Sergeant.

The officers stationed at the Lockup who are responsible for assessing the condition of prisoners such as the Assistant Reserve Officer and the Welfare Sergeant receive no training in medical assessment of the prisoners additional to their initial training at the Police Academy .

... If permanent staffing for the lockup comes through then ... there will be some special course prior to officers going to the lockup. (W/14/40).

In police stations other than those mentioned above, the duties of Lockup Keeper

and Welfare Officer are currently filled by the OIC.

The Police Department has informed the Royal Commission that consideration

will be given to introduce similar positions of lockup keeper and welfare officer

at larger lockups where a need can be demonstrated.

533

The Webster Committee has recommended that 'Assessment Officers' be

nominated for each shift in all major lockups. As noted in the section dealing

with assessment and screening the Committee specifically recommended that at

East Perth Lockup on each shift an appropriately trained officer from the

permanent staff should be responsible for the assessment of detainees

(Recommendation 4). This position has been filled by the welfare officer.

The Police Department has informed the Royal Commission that 'it may be

desirable but not practical in all instances for all 24 hour stations to have a lockup

keeper and/or welfare officer as a designated position.' The Commissioner of

Police provided me with costings of the options of staffing all country police

stations with a permanent lockup keeper. ($97.5 million to provide 610

add itional staff and houses) and lockup keepers to 20 larger police stations on a

24 hour basis ($15.9 million for 100 additional staff and houses.)

The Special Government Committee on Aboriginal, Police and Community

Relations in Annexure A of its submission to the Royal Commission proposed

two approaches to the provision of lockup attendants, to ensure that prisoners

who were detained in a lockup were supervised on a 24 hour basis. The

proposals would also release police officers for other police duties. Their

proposals are as follows:

a. Security Firms contracted to provide lock up attendants for those times where the police are not in the station or are likely to be away e.g. short staff night shifts. In areas of high Aboriginal population it is recommended that Aboriginal staff be employed.

NOTE: The Department for Community Services has reservations over this suggestion because of the lack of control over private security personnel.

b . Lock Uv Attendants

Alternatively, the Committee suggests that the position of lock up attendant or watch house officer be created. This position would be responsible to the 0/C of the Station. This position would enable the station to be left unmanned by police. The position's duties would be to look after the prisoner's needs

534

i.e. meals, clothing, health,financial,family contact and to provide a person for the prisoner to communicate with on a regular basis. Whilst the position would not be to enforce security, (they are not guards or wardens,) they would

however be responsible for maintaining security.

In areas of high Aboriginal population there is a high rate of unemployment amongst Aboriginals. The attendants would have to be Aboriginal and chosen in conjunction with the Aboriginal community. A regular assessment of the person's work and review of duties would have to be made in conjunction with the Aboriginal

community.

The Special Government Committee also submitted to the Royal Commission:

That the notion of all Aboriginal Lockup Attendants be examined with the aim of creating such positions in stations north of the twentieth parallel and remote areas. (p.ll of Submission)

The Police Department was asked for its view on this recommendation. Their

response is as follows:

This matter has not been fully assessed, however, to man all remote stations with lockup attendants would not appear practical (Responses of Commissioner of Police to Specific Questions raised by RCIADIC Q.8.4 p.32).

Despite the membership of two commissioned police officers on the Special

Government Committee on Aboriginal Police and Community Relations, the

response of the Police Department to the Committee's recommendation is not

very helpful. It could be viewed as indicative either of the Department's

approach to Aboriginal/Police relations or of the questions the Royal Commission

asked of the Police Department. Whatever the reason the response does the

Department little credit. In my view the suggestions of the Special Government

Committee warrant serious consideration.

The Webster Committee also recommended that Assessment Officers should

receive specialist training. They suggested the training include assessment

procedures, mental disorders and other areas of general welfare, in addition to

normal first aid and resuscitation training provided to serving officers. It would

535

entail three days training. (See Recommendation 10, Final Report of Webster

Committee 13 March 1990 p.9.)

Commissioner Muirhead in the Royal Commission Interim Report made

recommendations with a similar theme in relation to police officers who were

required to perform lockup keeper duties.

14. Police officers whose duties may require them to perform watch-house duties should undergo basic training in the recognition of symptoms of head injuries, major illnesses, and in first aid resuscitation techniques.

15 . Persons detained in custody must be closely monitored for the first six hours of detention and the appearance of the person should be recorded. Where persons detained are apparently intoxicated or appear angry or disturbed, very close

surveillance must be maintained.

28. Police and prison officers whose work involves the apprehension and/or detention of persons in custody should receive training to enable them to identify persons in distress or at risk of death through illness, injury or suicide.

However, to date, no specialist training has been provided to police officers

required to perform the duties of lockup keeper or welfare officer, whether they

be specific appointments or part of the normal duties of the OIC of the police

station.

I support the recommendations of both Muirhead in the Interim Report and the

Webster Committee in this regard and note that implementation of appropriate

training for officers performing lockup keeper duties, welfare officer duties or

·assessment officer' duties is overdue.

5.2.7 ROUTINE ORDERS AND OTHER INSTRUCTIONS

In this section of the Report I have been reviewing police custodial procedures

and practices with a view to reducing the dangers and preventing the likelihood of

death occurring.

536

In this context it is important to examine the police orders and guidelines.

Police Orders and/or guidelines may serve a two-fold purpose; firstly, providing

assistance and direction to police officers in the execution of their duties and

secondly providing a means whereby officers are accountable for their actions.

The Police Routine Orders are the primary written source of instruction for police

officers when carrying out their duties. Other instructions or guidelines which

may direct police officers are Instructions of the Commissioner of Police

published in the Police Gazette, Instructions issued by regional officers, Station

Orders issued by the officer in charge of a police station and police manual

guidelines.

Compliance with Routine Orders

The Royal Commission found in many inquiries that officers had not acted in

accordance with Routine Orders.

The Commissioner of Police explained the binding nature of these various

instructions as follows:

Routine Orders issued by the Commissioner of Police pursuant to his statutory authority under the Police Act, provide the basic guidelines for police in the execution of their duty. If couched imperatively, these orders and instructions, whether issued by the Commissioner or other officers. are binding on members as being lawful orders.

It is perhaps misleading to refer to all of these documents as 'orders'. They are essentially an outline of procedures with few, if any, mandatory instructions which require strict compliance . Instead there is scope for discretion and flexibility because of the

geographical size of the State , the diversity of situations encountered and resource limitations.

Policefolanual guidelines are guidelines only and not binding in the same sense as orders and instructions.

537

(Responses of Commissioner of Police to Specific Questions raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, p.39).

The Royal Commission found that even orders that appeared to be in imperative

terms were not in fact followed by officers.

Police Routine Orders provide at para 16-3.11.2:

As a guide to assist members to determine the need for medical assistance insensibility or unconsciousness should be considered as being of three levels as follows:

( 1) Drowsy - in this state the person is easily aroused but will lapse back into unconsciousness

(2) Stupor - in this State the person can be roused but only with difficulty.

(3) Coma- in this State the person cannot be roused.

In the latter two cases medical assistance should always be obtained and in the first case members should be guided by the

circumstances of the case.

The Samson inquiry revealed that the deceased at the time of arrest was unable to

sit on a chair without falling off and was unable to walk or talk. Upon arrival at

the police station he was unrousable. He was not able to be awoken. The officer

in charge of the police station told the Royal Commission first that Samson was

not insensible at the time of the arrest and the routine order did therefore not

apply and secondly that these Routine Orders were a guideline only and

notwithstanding the terms of the order, the need for medical attention was entirely

at his discretion.

The claim that Routine Orders are guidelines only and need not be followed by

members of the Police Force has been made on numerous occasions to the Royal

Commission. The Commissioner of Police, Mr Bull, confirmed this

interpretation of the Routine Orders. Where the Routine Orders say 'in the latter

two cases medical assistance should alwavs be obtained', (emphasis added)

538

according to the Commissioner of Police, these words are not of a mandatory

nature but only give guidance to members.

If the Routine Order noted above imposes no. mandatory obligation on police

officers dealing with unconscious prisoners then it must be concluded that

Routine Orders as a whole place no obligations upon police officers in their

dealings with prisoners.

Given the number of deaths investigated by the Royal Commission in Westem

Australia either in or arising from police custody where the police officer has

arrested the deceased in the mistaken belief that he or she was drunk when in fact

the person was either seriously ill or injured, it is of great concern to the Royal

Commission that there is no mandatory obligation upon a police officer to obtain

medical assistance for an unconscious prisoner or a prisoner who is otherwise

seriously ill or injured.

I consider that a much greater onus needs to be placed upon police officers in

relation to their custodial responsibilities.

Knowledge of Routine Orders

Despite the fact that the Routine Orders provide the primary written source of

guidance for police officers and were described to the Royal Commission by one

officer in the following terms:

It is like our bible. We have to follow those orders and it covers everything (Dunn in Brown case).

It was far more usual for the Royal Commission to receive the following type of

responses from police officers when asked about the Routine Orders:

Q.

A.

You are aware that one of them [Routine Orders] was that the prisoners had to be treated kindly and as humanely as possible? No. No. That was never said in the Routine Orders. (Sharp in Jones' case).

····· ··· ·············· ·· ········· ·· ····· ··········· ·· ···· ····· ·· ········ ···

539

Q. Are there any Routine Orders or instructions you are aware of now that relate to assessment of a prisoners condition? Are there any guidelines that you have in your mind as to how to assess a prisoner's behaviour as to whether it is simply drunk or whether it is some other medical condition? A. Not that I am aware of (Murray in Waigana case).

Q . Are you aware of the Routine Order that starts off at I6-310? A. l couldn't rattle it off. (Gibbons in Walker case).

Aboriginal police aides were placed in an even more difficult position. One

Police Aide told the Royal Commission that although Police Aides were bound

by Routine Orders, from 1986 onwards he was not provided with updates for the

Routine Orders. He was told by the Perth administration he was not entitled to

them as he was 'only a Police Aide' (Bellotti in Jones).

Another Police Aide,Walker, was asked about Routine Orders in relation to

assessment of a person and whether they needed medical treatment or anything of

that nature. His response was '!would not know. You just cannot keep track of

them all.' (RCIADIC, Wl9).

Before instructions are actually incorporated into the Routine Orders they are

issued through notices in the Police Gazette. I was particularly interested in

officers knowledge and understanding of an instruction issued by the

Commissioner of Police in the Police Gazette 13.1.88 which dealt with

Aboriginal arrests. Most officers, including officers in charge of police stations

had little or no knowledge of the instruction. Typical responses are as follows:

Q. Have you ever seen that before? (i.e. Police Gazette 13.1.88). A. I probably have but I can't recall actually having seen this particular document. (Cullen, officer in charge, Midland Police Station in Jones).

Q. Well if you couldn't specifically recall this extract from the gazette dealing with notification of friends, relatives, or the Aboriginal Legal Service, do you think other officers at Midland Police Station would be aware of it and be able to specifically recall it? A. Probably not, no. Not that specific instruction. (RCIADIC

W3:326)).

540

One regional officer although aware of the instruction himself was asked about

the general level of knowledge of the instruction in the police force:

Q. Is it your experience that these particular guidelines (Police Gazette 13.1.88) are not widely known within the Police Force? A . Well, it may be that they are not widely known. We have

numerous instructions put out from time to time and I suppose if all our Police Officers could remember them all verbatim they would be fairly cluey. We try to ensure that they know the main ones. ( (RCIADIC W21).

However the Commissioner of Police told the Royal Commission that he would

expect officers to be aware of such an instruction:

Counsel Assisting (C.A.):

I think it'd be fair to say that often when Police Officers have been asked about these Australian Police Ministers Council guidelines they haven't known what we were talking about, or only had the vaguest idea of what was being discussed.

Cmr Bull: Well, I don't know what more you can do but put them in the Police Gazette, which they're obliged.

C.A.: Yes .

Cmr Bull: They are obliged, no discretion to read and to - that is a specific instruction and certainly they are involved -such matters are highlighted in their initial academy training and in in-service training. I am afraid I don't as commissioner, accept if an officer says that they were only vaguely aware. I think that's a pretty poor officer,

in my view, who doesn't know something as important as that./ could understand in some of the other - you know, perhaps you could quote some of the routine orders to me and/' d be a bit vague but they might be just more minor procedural matters. But ifyou asked

me or asked any reasonable officer about deaths in custody, or duty of care generally, or a multitude of other matters which are important to their basic duty they would know and I would expect them to know.

Because of my concerns about the apparent lack of knowledge by police officers

of Routine Orders and other instructions, the Police Department was asked if

there were any procedures to monitor serving officers' knowledge of routine

541

orders and instructions, especially in relation to newly issued orders. It appears

that the only method of testing knowledge of police procedures is through

promotional examinations otherwise it is supposed to be monitored through the

chain of command. (See responses of Commissioner of Police to Specific

Questions Raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody

p.39).

One officer was asked how difficult it was to know whether he was acting in

accordance with routine orders. He said 'Well, I believe what I was doing was

right' . He was further asked :

Q. There was no way organised to measure up what you thought was the normal thing to do with what might have been in the Routine Orders of the police manual? A. No.

Q. Were you ever subject to in-service training or tests to do with your knowledge of Routine Orders? A. No. (RCIADIC Wll).

The Commissioner of Police has recognised that the level of officers' knowledge

and compliance with Routine Orders and other instructions varies and he has

suggested procedural changes to 'alleviate this problem'. Changes that have been

suggested include:

Prominence and Headings so that orders and instructions in the Gazette

are more easily accessible.

Simplification of Routine Orders.

Acknowledgement Form accompanying each Gazette to be completed by

all members.

Specific audit of codes and instructions as part of station inspection.

(Submission of Commissioner of Police and the Western Australian

542

Police Department to the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in

Custody May 1990).

Consequences of Breach of Routine Orders and other Instructions

The Police Department has advised the Royal Commission that breaches of

orders or instructions 'may be the subject of disciplinary proceedings or

counselling, depending on the circumstances'. (Response of Commissioner of

Police to Specific Questions Raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal

Deaths in Custody p.40).

Of the cases inquired into by the Royal Commission in only three was there any

internal action taken against police officers despite the fact that in most cases,

officers would have been in breach of the Routine Orders. Perhaps this is not

surprising given the fact that Routine Orders are generally regarded as being

guidelines only and not imposing any obligation upon officers.

In the McGrath case several officers were prosecuted internally. One was

prosecuted for failure to carry out proper cell checks. The penalty for such an

offence is minimal ($40) however such a matter would presumably be taken into

account in relation to an officer's promotional prospects.

The Pat case revealed that although internal disciplinary action was commenced

against one officer for making a false entry in the Station Occurrence Book it was

never proceeded with. The three or four copies of the file apparently went

missing.

No satisfactory explanation was ever given to the Commission as to what

happened to the files.

543

Conclusions

5.2.8

The accountability of police officers in relation to their custodial

responsibilities and the current status of Routine Orders is unsatisfactory.

Routine Orders directing officers in their custodial duties need to be more

than just guidelines. Possible alternatives to remedy this situation are:

1) Routine Orders needed to be given more weight by the

Commissioner of Police so that they impose mandatory obligations upon

officers in relation to their custodial duties. 2) Regulations be passed

placing mandatory obligations upon officers in relation to their custodial

duties. 3) The custodial obligations of police officers be given statutory

recognition.

Current method of ensuring officers knowledge and compliance with

Routine Orders is unsatisfactory. Changes suggested by Commissioner

of Police may improve situation. Further attention to this area is needed.

Current enforcement procedures in relation to Routine Orders through

disciplinary action unsatisfactory. The financial penalties are minimal and

in the experience of the Royal Commission officers are rarely prosecuted

for breach of Routine Orders relating to their custodial duties.

Accountability of police officers in relation to custodial responsibilities

unsatisfactory. Whether police officers should be made more accountable

through adherence to Routine Orders and enforcement procedures for

breach of orders needs to be examined.

TRAINING OF POLICE

In this section I examine various aspects of police training, both of recruits and

serving officers, which affects police dealings with Aboriginal people including

the care, supervision and treatment of persons detained in police custody. The

aspects of police training which are focused upon are first aid and resuscitation,

544

detection of medical conditions, custodial care, suicide prevention and awareness

training in Aboriginal affairs.

5.2.8.1 First Aid and Resuscitation

In eleven cases examined by my Commission, police officers who attended at the

cells, and found the detainee apparently dead, did not attempt resuscitation.

In some cases the officer's decision not to attempt resuscitation cannot be

criticised as the deceased had been dead for some time and was clearly beyond

revival (McGrath, Anderson, Samson, Chatunalgi). However, in at least seven

cases, including three deaths by hanging, no attempt at resuscitation was made or

the attempts made were totally inadequate.

In Christine Jones' case the officers found her hanging shortly after placing her

in the cell. One officer had completed a resuscitation course at the Police

Academy four years prior to the death. The other officer had completed the

resuscitation course at the Academy in 1975, had done a refresher course in

resuscitation in mid 1977 and in February 1979 (less than two years prior to the

death). They performed cardiac massage without giving the deceased mouth-to­

mouth resuscitation. This action was regarded by Dr Oxer, Medical Director of

StJohn Ambulance Association, as having no benefit when performed alone. He

described the correct steps to be taken on finding a person hanging:

1 . Remove the constricting force.

2. Check to see if the patient is breathing.

3 . If the patient is not breathing, perform expired air resuscitation.

4 . After 5 breaths, check the carotid pulse to see if there is a heart beat ..

5. If there is no pulse perform external cardiac massage.

6. Continue expired air resuscitation and external cardiac massage alternately (cardia pulmonary resuscitation).

545

This procedure will make recovery possible if the brain has not already suffered irreparable damage.

When Wayne Dooler was found dead in the cell by police officers after being

detained in an unconscious condition, no attempt was made at resuscitation.

Hugh Wodulan was found hanging in Broome Police Lockup. The officers

who discovered his body concluded he had been dead for some time and

decided it was useless to attempt resuscitation. I found it unlikely that

resuscitation could have had any effect but I went on to say 'but persons can

be resuscitated and where it is not known how long a person may have been

dead it is most desirable that resuscitation be attempted'. (Wodulan Report

page 20).

Stanley Brown was also found hanging in Broome Police Lockup. After the

police lowered his body to the floor no attempt at resuscitation was made. The

officers who attended at the cell decided that he was beyond resuscitation despite

the fact that his body was still warm. The officer in charge of the station who

found the deceased had had no resuscitation training for more than ten years and

had no confidence in his ability to perform resuscitation. The other officer had

done initial resuscitation training in 1970 and had done a refresher course three

years prior to the death. He did not feel 100% confident of his ability to perform

mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Again, no attemRt was made to resuscitate Misel Waigana who died in a cell at

East Perth Lockup. He had been seen alive about thirty minutes beforehand but

was thought to be beyond resuscitation by the officers who found him in the cell.

Indeed no ambulance was called to assist.

In the case of Edward Cameron who was found hanging in a cell in the Gerald ton

Lockup, not only did the officers not attempt resuscitation upon finding the

546

deceased but they did not even release him from the noose. The justification for

their action was that they wanted to preserve the scene

Kim Polak was acutely ill in the lockup. When he was found by the police with

no signs of life, no attempt was made to commence resuscitation procedures

although this would have been the prudent course.

It was also clear in some instances where resuscitation was attempted that the officers were not confident of their resuscitation skills. For example, in

Morrison, two officers performed CPR, one officer being quite competent having

been recently trained and the other being a little uncertain on the use of the

Laerdal mask and having to read the directions on the pack first. This officer had

not received any refresher training for thirteen to fourteen years.

Of the nine cases in which police officers were in a position to appropriately

commence resuscitation procedures (Jones, Dooler, Wodulan, Brown, Waigana,

Morrison, Polak, Cameron, Wongi), police officers actually made adequate

attempts in two cases (Morrison, Wongi).

The Police Department has taken action to improve police officers' resuscitation

skills through training programmes. All police recruits undergo basic training at

the Police Academy in resuscitation techniques together with training in the

recognition of symptoms of head injuries and major illnesses. The recruit

training is equivalent to the Red Cross Senior First Aid Certificate Course and

runs for thirty-two hours. It includes fourteen hours of life saving which covers

resuscitation training on mannequins (RCIADIC W15:384). Sergeant

O'Meagher told the Royal Commission that since 1975 recruit resuscitation

training at the Police Academy has had a high degree of emphasis (RCIADIC

W15:385).

In 1989 a refresher resuscitation programme was conducted statewide. It was

part of a six hour course in custodial care. Approximately 61.5% of police

547

officers did the three hour re-training programme in resuscitation techniques.

The trainers have indicated they would like to give the officers refresher training

every twelve months (RCIADIC Wl5:387).

The Police Department have also implemented procedures to identify from Police

Academy records, the current training level and qualifications particularly with

respect to first aid and custodial care, of members on transfer. The information is

relayed to regional officers.

My inquiries have also revealed a lack of knowledge amongst police officers in

the use of and, location of resuscitation equipment at their police station, although

knowledge in this regard has improved since the commencement of the Royal

Commission. The Police Department has informed the Commission that

instruction in the use of Laerdal Masks and Air Viva resuscitators has been given.

Issue of this equipment has been prioritised with equipment and instructions

being given to those centres and stations handling the greatest number of

detainees. Thirteen major lockups have been fitted with Laerdal air vivas.

Sergeant O'Meagher told the Royal Commission that in 1987 all police stations

and vehicles were issued with a Laerdal Mask (RCIADIC Wl5:389). The mask

is designed to avoid facial contact with the person.

The location of the equipment is not standardised within police stations with

different stations keeping equipment in different places. The Commissioner of

Police assured the Royal Commission that the location of such equipment has

been stabilised so that it is readily available and everyone knows where it is,

however he said it cannot be located in the same place in all police stations,

e.g. the lockup area, because the construction of the police stations vary

(Conference with Commissioner of Police, 31.7.90:665,667 ).

It appears there is still no specific obligation placed upon police officers to

perform resuscitation on either persons in custody or members of the public. The

548

Police Department was asked as to their policy in this regard. The response is as

follows:

No specific policy exists because there is a general obligation to preserve life. This obligation is fulfilled by police in a variety of ways according to the circumstances at the time. Members are trained in CPR to enable them to respond to emergency situations.

(Response of Commissioner of Police to specific questions raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody July 1990 p.53).

When the Commissioner of Police was asked by me whether he intended

to indicate by order or direction the need for officers to exercise

resuscitation procedures he said:

Yes we have updated that and I am now in the process of training all officers in resuscitation statewide. The programme is well down the track and the routine orders are being amended- or have been.

There is already an order gone out but the routine order will be amended to provide for the resuscitation.

I then asked:

What is the effect of that? Does it say that it shall be undertaken?

Commissioner Bull responded:

It gives 'em guidance- yes- as to how it should be undertaken and in regard to the need for officers to be updated and.for O!Cs to ensure that their staff are available and when, the training units go around - not to miss people (Conference with Commissioner of Police 31.7.90:664 ).

It still is not clear whether the Routine Orders place an obligation upon police

officers to perform resuscitation.

I refer to the earlier section of this Report in which the duty of care is discussed.

In that section I refer to the duty to resuscitate.

549

5.2.8.2 Refresher Training

In early 1983 there was a change in the way refresher training courses were

conducted. It was based upon officers returning to the Academy every three

years for refresher training but it was discovered that this did not in fact occur.

In 1986-87 the refresher training courses were discontinued as they were found

to be a failure. The courses were changed so that a team of instructors were sent

out to the police stations around the State - the Outreach Programme. This

Programme was commenced in July 1989 and included the resuscitation refresher

course described above.

Commissioner Bull told the Royal Commission that the refresher training in

resuscitation provided (discussed above) mainly focuses on operational people

rather than the scientific people and is given to a level adjudged by St Johns

Ambulance to be sufficient provided it is updated (Conference 31.7.90:665).

It appears that refresher training in resuscitation will be continued with St Johns

Ambulance carrying out future training in country areas and the training branch

conducting training in the metropolitan areas. (Response of Commissioner of

Police to Specific Questions Raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal

Deaths in Custody, July 1990, p.52).

5.2.8.3 Detection of Serious Medical Conditions

The Royal Commission inquiries clearly demonstrated the skills of police officers

in detecting serious medical conditions were very poor. Three inquiries showed

that police officers detained persons in an unconscious condition in the lockup, in

each instance assuming them to be drunk, where in fact the person was suffering

from a head injury which later led to their death. (Faith Barnes, Roy Walker,

Albert Dougal). The time period it took for officers to realise that the person

needed medical attention ranged from five to twelve hours. In an.other case

(Wayne Dooler) the deceased was placed in the lockup unconscious. He later

died from alcohol poisoning. In a further inquiry the deceased was placed in the

550

lockup in a semi-conscious condition, being unable to walk nor carry out a

conversation. He was very intoxicated, was also known by the police officers on

duty to suffer from a serious medical condition (epilepsy) and also from alcohol

withdrawal seizures. Nevertheless he was lefr in a cell unattended for six hours

(Ginger Samson). In a further three inquiries the persons who later died were

placed in the lockup in extremely poor health (Misel Waigana, Kim Polak, Milton

Wells). The fact that these persons who were very sick went unnoticed suggests

a number of possibilities: the intoxicated state of a detainee masked a serious

medical condition; the indifference of the officers involved; that the state of health

of detainees generally is very poor or that police officers are lacking in skills in

the recognition of detainees with serious medical conditions, especially if they

appear to be affected by alcohol.

In another case investigated by the Commission the deceased who displayed

classical signs of mental illness was placed in a cell alone and a short while later

hanged himself (Ben Morrison).

Medical experts who have given evidence to the Royal Commission have

commented that it is not difficult to train police officers to a level where they are

able to recognise a person who is unconscious, suffering from a head injury or

has a very serious medical or mental condition (See Professor German in

Morrison; Dr Oxer in Jones; Dr Hamilton in Dougal; Dr Spencer in Dooler).

As mentioned above, police recruits at the Police Academy receive training in the

recognition of head injuries and major illnesses, however serving officers have

not received training in these areas to date. It is unclear whether the Police

Department intends to cover these areas in their future refresher courses on first

aid and resuscitation.

Commissioner Muirhead in the Royal Commission Interim Report specifically

recommended that police officers who performed watchhouse duties undergo

training in the recognition of symptoms of head injuries and major illnesses in

551

addition to first aid and resuscitation techniques (Recommendation 14). As noted

above there are a limited number of police officers allocated specifically to the

position oflockup keeper or welfare officer (three permanent lockup keepers, one

each at Central, Midland and Fremantle Police Stations, two officers who

perform these duties in conjunction with other duties at Narrogin and Albany

Police Stations and one Welfare Sergeant at East Perth Lockup). These officers

do not receive any special training for these positions. However, the

Commissioner of Police, Mr Brian Bull, told the Royal Commission that the

permanent lockup keepers at Central endeavour to seek further training so that

they are more proficient (Conference 31.7.90:665).

It would appear that further efforts need to be made to ensure that all officers who

carry out lockup keeper duties are adequately trained to recognise

unconsciousness, persons suffering from head injuries and serious medical and

mental health conditions.

5 .2.8.4 Custodial Care and Suicide Prevention

In July 1989 the Police Department introduced a two hour course entitled

Custodial Care. All recruits receive the Custodial care lecture and it was

envisaged that all serving officers would also do the course. The serving officers

did the course in conjunction with the first aid and resuscitation refresher course,

discussed above, as pan of a one day package.

The custodial care course looks at the duty of police officers towards a detainee

from the time of arrest and during the period of detention in police custody.

According to one of the officers responsible for teaching the course, emphasis is

placed on alerting officers to factors which indicate a detainee may be at risk or

under stress.

A booklet which outlines the course content, which I refer to as the custodial care

manual, is provided to all officers undertaking the course. It draws attention to

552

the relevant Routine Orders, section 262 of the Criminal Code, risk factors, past

coronial inquiries into deaths in custody and recommendations made by the

coroner and steps to prevent suicides and deaths in custody.

During the course three videos are also shown. The Royal Commission has been

provided with the video '320 Deadly Seconds' which has been produced by a

Police Department in the United States of America. It points out the factors about

a detainee which should put an officer on alert. The video possibly has its

limitations because the detainee portrayed is a white middle class middle-aged

man. The officers who are responsible for the preparation of the course syllabus

have not established a typical profile of a West Australian police lockup detainee

but on the basis of the information held by the Royal Commission one would

expect a typical Western Australian detainee to have quite different characteristics

to the detainee portrayed in the video. This imbalance may be corrected by

another video shown during the course on suicides by young Aboriginal men, a

film made by Dr McLaren, a psychiatrist, and Dr Garrow, a doctor with Broome

Aboriginal Medical Services.

Further information is provided to the officers through print media articles which

discuss deaths in custody.

To date about 61.5% of all serving officers have completed the course. Although

tile officers are not compelled to attend the course they are under instruction to

attend.

The Royal Commission considers that the concept of the custodial care course is

to be encouraged however it appears to need further evaluation and development.

At the time the Royal Commission received information about the course

(October 1989) there were no plans to monitor and develop the course (RCIADIC

WI5:470).

553

In October 1989 the training section responsible for the course received no

infonnation from other sections of the Police Department about further deaths or

attempted suicides in custody when they occurred. Despite the fact that the

course encouraged use of the Aboriginal Visitors Scheme, no attempt at liaison

with A VS has been made by the training section to see whether they could

provide feedback about police and lockup practices which should be modified to

reduce the chance of deaths in custody (RCIADIC W15:468). There was also no

input from Aboriginal Police Aides into the running of the course, although they

do attend the course.

I was also interested to learn that at least some of the officers in the careers

training section at the Police Academy providing training to the recruits and

serving officers had no teaching qualifications or training and had been

transferred to the training section at the Academy after a period of operational

duties. In the case of one such officer who gave evidence to the Royal

Commission he appeared willing enough but appeared to lack teaching skills. I

consider that the use of such inexperienced personnel in the teaching of other

officers or potential officers requires evaluation by the Police Department.

I also consider that the custodial care course needs further evaluation and

development and could benefit from officers involved in the provision of the

course receiving more feedback from other sections of the Police Department, the

A VS and Aboriginal Police Aides about further deaths and attempted suicides in

custody and suggestions as to ways in which police and lockup practices could

be modified to prevent further deaths.

5.2.8.5 Aboriginal Affairs Training

The statistical information discussed earlier in the Report indicates that Aboriginal

people are over-represented in both police and prison custody to an alanning

extent. The first point of contact that Aboriginal people have with the criminal

justice system is invariably the police.

554

The Report of the Aboriginal Issues Unit (Western Australia) summarised the

Aboriginal perspective on police understanding of Aboriginal people:

... most police officers, like other Government officials, had little or no understanding of Aboriginal history,·culture, society or lifestyle. This widespread ignorance (especially noticeable among police officers of recent overseas origin, and among new recruits) was due in part to the failure of education systems to properly inform all young people about Aboriginal issues, and to limited and inadequate police training in Aboriginal affairs.

Poor training caused police recruits to come out of the Academy with pre-conceived ideas about Aboriginal people which saw them setting out to prove that they were 'boss' . These bad attitudes toward Aboriginal people resulted in prejudicial and discriminatory

treatment. There was little if any attempt to work with the Aboriginal community (AIU Report p.8).

It has been argued time and again that by improving police understanding of

Aboriginal culture, history, the economic and social difficulties confronted by

Aboriginal people, and teaching police appropriate communication skills, it is

likely that police will be better equipped to work with Aboriginal people and

better Aboriginal/Police relations will result. However, the Royal Commission

has considerable concerns that although the message has been repeated over and

over again it is not receiving the attention it deserves from the Police Department.

Over the last fifteen years the issue of police training in Aboriginal affairs has

received considerable attention. In Western Australia most inquiries and reports

which have focused on Aboriginal/Police relations have invariably included

recommendations on improvements that need to be made in the area of police

training in Aboriginal affairs.

In 1976 the Laverton Royal Commission recommended that a unit be established

within the Police Deparnnent capable of giving expert and intensive instruction in

Aboriginal society and culture and the economic and social problems Aboriginals

commonly face (Recommendation 10). It recommended that the training should

be given to recruits and officers serving in the field. The Commission further

555

recommended 'that a small committee or council be established consisting of two

police officers and a like number of Aboriginals and outside experts to advise the

Police Commission on all aspects of the training programme' (Recommendation

11 ). The Commission was of the view that it was crucial that Aboriginals should

have a role in the programme and recommended 'that suitably qualified

Aboriginals slwuld play a part in any training programme that may be introduced

in the Police Department' (Recommendation 12).

The Special Government Committee on Aboriginal/Police and Oater) Community

Relations was established to advise on Aboriginal affairs training for police.

In more recent times recommendations have been made in this regard by the

Western Australian Interim Inquiry Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody in January

1988 (the Vincent Report), the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in

Custody (the Interim Report), the Special Government Committee on

Aboriginal/Police and Community Relations (April 1989), the Equal

Opportunities Commission Report of Review of Police Practices (July 1990) the

Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in

Custody in Western Australia (August 1990).

The Interim Report of the Royal Commission (Muirhead) recommended:

Recommendation 32 All personnel of police, prison, social welfare or other departments whose work will bring them into contact with Aboriginal people should receive appropriate training or retraining to ensure that they have an understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal history, culture and social behaviour and the abilities to communicate effectively and work with Aboriginal people.

Recommendation 33 The Aboriginal component of training courses should be prepared in consultation with representatives from the Aboriginal community. Training courses in Aboriginal issues should be examinable.

556

The Western Australian Government advised the Royal Commission that these

recommendations had been implemented. However despite the fact that police

recruits do receive some training in Aboriginal affairs it is apparent that the

current level of training is totally inadequate. In addition, no training is provided

to serving police officers although the Police Department has advised the Royal

Commission that training for 'other personnel has been considered but no

specific programme has yet been developed because of other demands on

resources'. (Responses of the Commissioner of Police to Specific Questions

raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.)

The attitude of the Commissioner of Police to the effectiveness of the current

recruit training course in Aboriginal affairs is as follows:

The course has been shown to be effective by the running of critiques and other feedback. (Response of Commissioner of Police to Specific Questions raised by the Royal Commission Into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody July 1990 p.43).

The Special Government Committee on Aboriginal Police & Community

Relations in its submission to the Royal Commission provided a summary of the

history of Aboriginal affairs training to the police:

Initially the Aboriginal affairs training was provided by the then Department for Community Welfare and the Western Australian Museum, with the assistance from prominent Aborigines. The initial training courses in I976 were a minimum of 8 hours for in­

service training and a minimum of7 J/4 hours for recruit training. The involvement of the Committee and other Government Agencies basically remained constant until I984 . At that time negotiations began between this Committee, the Police Academy, Western Australian Institute of Technology and Western Australian Colleges of Advanced Education to have the Aboriginal Affairs training

component delivered by an external academic institution. Western Australia Institute of Technology's Centre for Aboriginal Studies was chosen to conduct the first course in November I985 with 10 hours of instruction . In May, 1986, a decision was taken by the Police Academy to cut training to 6 hours.

In mid 1987, the Police Academy decided to approach the Institute for Applied Aboriginal Studies as it was not satisfied with the training being delivered by the Centre for Aboriginal Studies. The negotiations that took place included this Committee, Mt Lawley

557

College for Advanced Education and the Institute and the Police Academy. The new segments to be taught by the Institute were developed in consultation with the Police Academy (April1989).

In 1987 a Review of the Police Recruit Training Programme was carried out by

the Curriculum Development Unit (CDU) of the Police Department. The CDU

did not make any judgments concerning lectures given by Curtin University staff

on Police/Aboriginal Relations as the area had already been assessed by the

Academy. A short time later the Police Academy discontinued the services of the

Centre for Aboriginal Studies (Curtin University) which was providing the

training in Aboriginal awareness to police recruits at the time and approached the

Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies which provided the training to the recruits

until July 1989.

Submissions to the Royal Commission by the Centre for Aboriginal Studies point

out that they were never properly informed as to why the Police Academy chose

to discontinue their programme. The Centre acknowledged that the initial training

programme provided to the Academy was not very successful and worked to

develop a more appropriate course.

Despite a positive response from the recruits to the revised programme the Centre

found that Academy staff continued to have a negative attitude towards the

programme. The time allocated to the programme was reduced from

10 x 40 minute periods to 6 x 40 minute periods per squad.

Because Academy staff informed the Centre that their own evaluations indicated

that their performance was not satisfactory the Centre approached the Academy

with the intention of increasing their performance so that it was satisfactory from

the Academy perspective.

The Centre for Aboriginal Studies was concerned that the programme was

viewed as an 'outside' programme imposed on the Academy and that Academy

staff undermined the effectiveness of the programme with negative comments.

The Centre wanted the Academy to take more responsibility for the programme

558

and suggested that the programme should become a joint project of the Academy

and the Centre. The Centre felt the programme should be integrated with other

aspects of Police Training. Although the approach seemed to be supported by

Academy staff at the time, a short while later the Academy took unilateral action

to exclude the Centre from Recruit Training and without notification or

explanation ceased communication with the Centre and commenced negotiations

with the Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies of the Western Australian College

of Advanced Education. (See submission by Centre for Aboriginal Studies,

Curtin University ofTechnology 18 July 1990 G/W/32).

Mr Tom Baban, Head of the Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies (IAAS),

Western Australian College of Advanced Education, has provided information to

the Royal Commission on the course provided to recruits at the Police Academy

by IAAS to July 1989. He said that the recruits received 'two hours andforty

minutes of Aboriginal studies training per se' (RCIADIC, Dodson:245).

The length of the full police training course has increased from thirteen weeks in

1976 to 22 weeks in 1990. It is of great concern that the length of training in

Aboriginal affairs has decreased from 7 3/4 hours in 1976 to two hours forty

minutes in 1990 particularly in view of the repeated recommendations made by

various inquiries to improve and increase the level of training.

Mr Baban also informed the Royal Commission that the Police Department have

discussed further reducing the time spent by recruits on Aboriginal affairs to 140

minutes by reducing each unit by five minutes (RCIADIC, Dodson:251).

In 1989 the Police Academy agreed to the Aboriginal affairs training course being

examinable. Assessment of the course was carried out by way of a multiple

choice test and a 600 word essay. Recruits were required to get 65% in all

assessable subjects. By making Aboriginal affairs examinable it gave the course

more status and presumably it had to be taken more seriously by the recruits.

However Mr Baban has indicated to the Royal Commission that it was not easy

559

getting the Police Academy's agreement on the way in which the course was to

be assessed and that the Police Department was unhappy that the providers of the

course, the lecturers from the Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies, also

wanted to maintain responsibility for the assessment of the course.

In 1989 the management committee of the Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies

advised the Institute to withdraw its services from the Police Academy, which

they did temporarily, because they wanted the Police Department to consider the

following matters:

(i) time devoted to Aboriginal affairs studies

(ii) assessment of the course

(iii) racism being experienced by the lecturers who attended at the Academy.

The third issue had become so severe that half of the lecturers (four persons) had

refused to go back to the Academy to lecture.

Following this action on the part of the Institute of Applied Aboriginal Studies

control of the course was removed from the Head of the Institute and given to the

Dean of the School of Community and Language Studies, who was ultimately in

charge of the area at Western Australian College of Advanced Education.

(RCIADIC, Dodson:244)

It appears that the course provided by the IAAS has not been reinstated by the

Police Department to date.

The Centre for Aboriginal Studies recently made these comments on the course

provided to the Academy by the IAAS:

and

This programme merely bandaids a problem which requires much more commitment/rom the Aboriginal community and the Western Australian Police Department to be adequately addressed

560

... that responsibility for Aboriginal/Police Relations had to be taken seriously with the participation of the Aboriginal community, not only through academic enclaves. We outlined that the current programme was grossly inadequate and that a more intensive, long

term, multi-levelled (involving the entire Western Australian Police Department) programme was urgently required to properly address Aboriginal/Police relations. (Letter from Pat Dudgeon, Head, Centre for Aboriginal Studies to Tom Baban, Head, Institute of

Applied Aboriginal Studies, 10.5.90).

Mr Baban had indicated agreement with some of the ideas expressed in the letter

and has told the Royal Commission that in relation to input into the development

and operation of the Aboriginal studies course that representatives should be

included from WACAE. RCIADIC, Police Academy, the Aboriginal Legal

Service, the Aboriginal Medical Service, the Special Cabinet Committee on

Aboriginal Police & Community Relations, AAPA, ATSIC and other relevant

organisations. He believes that the community is very concerned and it is

important that participation in the course is extended beyond the involvement of a

couple of people from the college and Police Academy (RCIADIC, Dodson::244-5). He also suggested that the Aboriginal studies should be treated as a separate

area and not lumped in with the concept of multi-culturalism. (RCIADIC,

Dodson:244)

Mr Baban discussed two suggestions about the future location of the course, one

being that a trainer from inside the Police Academy be trained to deliver the

course, the other being the possibility that Aboriginal studies takes place within

the tertiary setting (RCIADIC, Dodson:254).

Mr Bahan expressed the belief that the level of police recruit exposure to

Aboriginal studies should be· increased from the current limit of two hours forty

minutes (T245).

He told the Royal Commission that the Police Department recruits were not really

interested in Aboriginal culture and would rather get rid of units like pre-history.

Their main focus was wanting to know how to handle the person on the street.

He believed that there was a need for police recruits to be exposed to Aboriginal

561

culture through a long sustained unit. He understood why recruits would want to

focus on practical techniques given that they only received 4 x 40 minute units on

Aboriginal studies. (Royal Commission transcript 18.7.90 p.254).

Although there was apparently a willingness on behalf of the IAAS to resume

responsibility for the recruit training course if consideration was given to the

matters they raised with the Police Department, the Police Department approached

the Aboriginal Educational Liaison Unit (AELU) of the Ministry for Education to

provide the training to recruits in 1990. The AELU provided training to the first

intake of recruits in 1990. The training appears to have consisted of

4 x 75 minute sessions which covered Pre History Aboriginal Studies; Contact

History and Legislation to 1967; soCial issues reflecting pre-history Aboriginal

societies and post-contact history, and a panel discussion.

Representatives from the AELU provided the Royal Commission with further

information about the course the Unit provided to the recruits. They did not

examine the course themselves. Their submission to the Royal Commission

made these comments about the course:

Difficulties, if any, experienced by those lecturing

It was felt that the number of recruits attending the lectures was too large. There are 90 recruits per lecture. Large groups tend to have 34 people asking all the questions.

In those sessions where recruits were not examined on the content, attention spans were short and the attitudes of some were blase.

There were some recruits whose questions/comments were racist but the lecturers were able to redirect those questions/comments back to the group to answer. This proved a valuable teaching tool in educating all the group.

Recruits could not see the relevance of some parts of the course- particularly history.

The allocated time was brief and allowed only an overview of some of the topics. More in-depth analysis or explanations would have been advantageous in some cases.

562

Suggestions/Recommendations to improve Police Training

An increase in lectures contained in the entire course. The current nwnber stands at 4 lectures per training.

Those attending lectures should have some type of follow-up eg

Work/contact with Aboriginal community or youth group.

Talking on an individual basis to an Aboriginal person.

Include more Aboriginal police personnel in the lectures.

eg The presence of (Aboriginal) CIB officer Neville Collard as a lecturer on one occasion brought a Level of credibility and expertise which had been lacking previously. He was able to relate his own experiences as

a policeman working with Aborigines and was able to answer questions relating directly to police procedure and the Law in dealing with Aborigines.

There was agreement amongst staff of the AELU that the course was not long

enough, that police recruits needed some practical experience in relation to

Aboriginal issues and that they should be assessed on each topic studied.

Mrs Vema Vos, previously a field officer with the AELU and currently

coordinating a programme with IAAS at W ACAE, provided the Royal

Commission with additional information about the training course provided by

AELU to the recruits. She agreed that giving lectures to large groups of 90

students was problematic. She suggested that small workshop groups were

needed with more Aboriginal people involved so that people would feel more

comfortable asking questions and the contact would be closer. She also

suggested that Aboriginal studies should be incorporated throughout the training

course rather than in a few concentrated sessions. Mrs Vos also stated that there

was not enough importance placed upon the course and that the lectures were

seen as 'special treatment'. She said that a lot of cross-cultural awareness

workshops were required before the topics covered in a lecture situation could be

adequately addressed. She was also concerned about the way the course was

563

assessed and that those involved in structuring the questions fanning the basis of

the assessment were not Aboriginal.

Mrs Vos formed the impression that the Police Academy had been carrying out

the course in a certain way over the years, they had an idea of the way the course

should be presented and wanted the group presenting the course to 'fit in' with

what they considered the normal procedures.

However Mrs Vos was sure that an adequate Aboriginal studies course was

essential to proper police training and could work but it had to be given

importance and credence and someone had to take responsibility for it.

The Police Department advised me that the AELU were unable to provide the

Aboriginal training segment to the second recru it course in 1990 due to staff

shortages and other commitments. So the Recruit Course (2/90) received training

in Aboriginal/Police Relations from a senior training officer with the Department

of Corrective Services.

I was also informed by the Police Department that the course length had been

increased from 4 x 70 minute periods to 5 x 70 minute periods or one full day.

The Police Department states that the period of training is presented by an

external organisation and is assessable. In addition the area of Aboriginal/Police

relations is touched upon in other segments of the training course and the

Police/Aboriginal Liaison Unit provides staff to speak to recruits about their

function for 1 x 70 minute session in addition to the sessions previously

mentioned.

The Police Department also advised me that the content and duration of recruit

courses are being re-evaluated and it is expected that the course will be

restructured for the next intake of recruits scheduled for July 1991.

564

I have also been infonned by Mr Bahan of IAAS that a group is being organised

to discuss teaching Aboriginal affairs to Western Australian Police. It has been

suggested by the organisers that members of the group should include Police

Academy representatives, representatives from the WACAE and Aboriginal

persons from the community. At the time of writing there were some concerns

about the membership of the discussion group, both Aboriginal and non­

Aboriginal, given the importance and sensitivity of Aboriginal/police and

community relations at the training of police in this regard, particularly from the

perspective of the Aboriginal community.

The Report of the Review of Police Practices by the Commissioner for Equal

Opportunity has also suggested that training on Aboriginal issues should be

incorporated into the entire training programme and that recruits should be

assessed on their knowledge and understanding of the topic.

The Equal Opportunity Report made the following recommendations relevant to

police training in Aboriginal issues:

Recommendation 6 Training programs for recruits should incorporate Aboriginal (and other minority group) issues in each component, to be assessed in the same way as other course components.

Recommendation 9 Promotional training programs should reflect Aboriginal issues in all their components and satisfactory completion of these aspects should be required before promotion is recommended.

Recommendation 10 The department should support external training options to be available to all personnel through the sponsorship of such officers to undertake appropriate degree courses.

My Commission is also of the view that current training provided to both police

recruits and serving officers in the area of Aboriginal affairs is completely

inadequate. Immediate steps need to be taken to provide improved training to

recruits. In addition urgent steps should be taken to provide an appropriate

565

course to serving police officers, particularly officers currently serving in areas

with significant Aboriginal populations or officers who are soon to be transferred

to such an area.

I consider that the current level of consultation with representatives from the

Aboriginal community in provision of training to recruits and serving officers is

insufficient and immediate steps need to be taken to improve the consultation

process.

5.2.9

5.2.9.1

AVAILABILITY AND USE OF MEDICAL

ASSISTANCE

Access to Medical Information

The question of police having access to medical information about detainees was

canvassed to some extent in Section 5.2.5 on the Computer System. In a number

of cases into which I have inquired I have found that if the police had had some

information about the medical or mental health condition of the deceased there

would have been an increased likelihood that medical attention would have been

sought and the death prevented. There are currently no Routine Orders or

instructions requiring the police to make inquiries about the medical or mental

health condition of a detainee.

The cases of Robert Anderson, Kim Polak and Benjamin Morrison are in point.

If police had known of the chronic health conditions affecting Anderson

(epilepsy), Polak (epilepsy, alcoholic hepatitis) and the mental health condition

suffered by Morrison, they may well have shown more concern for their

wellbeing and sought medical attention.

In the section dealing with the Computer System I discussed the confidentiality of

detainees' medical information and the issues involved in giving police access to

basic medical information via their computer system.

566

An alternative method of obtaining medical information about a detainee is

through active inquiries of the detainee. The section dealing with Assessment

and Screening discusses the implementation of an admission form which

requires the police to record information about the health of a detainee. The

introduction of an admission form may alleviate some of the problems associated

with police having custody of people who are sick or suffering from serious

mental or health conditions. An admission form or police Routine Orders should

require the police to ask a person if they are sick, suffer from certain conditions

or are in need of medication. It is important that the police have access to basic

medical information about detainees so that they may properly care for the person

and obtain medical attention if necessary. The police should not rely on detainees

to volunteer information about their wellbeing but should have a duty to actively

obtain that information. However, the confidentiality of the medical information

must be maintained.

5.2.9.2 Medical Emergencies and Ambulance Services

The Police Department informed the Royal Commission that all lockups in

Western Australia have provided medical treatment to detainees by way of

St Johns Ambulance, amongst other medical services. (Submission of

Commissioner of Police and Western Australian Police Department to RCIADIC

-May 1990, p.11.)

However, in a number of cases I have investigated the police have either not

called an ambulance or have delayed calling an ambulance in circumstances where

immediate medical attention was clearly warranted. In Dooler although the

deceased appeared to have stopped breathing at 1.00 pm, an ambulance was not

called until 1.15 pm and did not arrive until 1.30 pm . No attempt at resuscitation

was made in the interim. In Wells, although the deceased was showing

unmistakable signs of illness (he was fitting) at 7.45 am, an ambulance was not

called until 8.20 am. In the interim the police sought to discover whether the

deceased was an epileptic. It emerged from one officer's evidence that he would

567

have been unconcerned about Wells' condition if he had been found to have been

subject to fits. It was only when the police were told that Wells had no such

history that an ambulance was called.

There are no routine orders or instructions directing police officers as to what

action to take in a medical emergency. It may seem like common sense that in a

medical emergency an ambulance would be called as a matter of course but my

experience demonstrates that this is not necessarily so.

Police officers should be directed to call an ambulance if it appears that they have

a medical emergency on their hands. If it appears that the detainee is not

breathing, police officers should also be instructed to commence resuscitation

procedures immediately. The issue of resuscitation training is discussed in more

detail in section 5.2.8 of the Report which deals with Police Training.

5.2.9.3 Access to Medical Attention

In the Interim Report, Commissioner Muirhead (as he then was) made the

following recommendations in relation to medical attention for detainees:

39. Police officers should ensure that any person detained in police custody who asks to see a medical practitioner receives immediate medical attention. Police departments should ensure , wherever practicable, that police officers have access to medical practitioners 24 hours a day.

40. Police and prison officers should be instructed to immediately seek medical attention if any doubt arises as to a detainee's condition .

The Police Department has informed the Royal Commission that its policy

regarding provision of medical services is contained in Routine Order 16-2.28

which provides that the services of a Government medical officer, a medical

practitioner or a hospital will be utilised. (Submission of Commissioner of

Police and Police Department to RCIADIC May 1990, p.ll.)

568

The Routine Orders that appear to be relevant in regard to access to medical

attention are as follows:

Rayal Perth Hosoitalll!(juiries Act

13-3.10 Before a prisoner is taken from a lockup, etc., to the hospital for treatment, the hospital is to be advised by telephone, of the person's name and any previous treatment received at the hospital. This will enable hospital staff to obtain any medical record of the patient prior to arrival and avoid unnecessary delay.

Resoonsibility to Prisoners

16-8.10.1 Members are to ensure that in every case where a person is suicidal, intoxicated to the extent of being at risk or suffering or suspected of suffering any medical disability which may place the person at risk, all due care is to be taken any medical

assistance available is to be utilised to ensure the welfare of the prisoner.

Medical Treatment for Prisoners

16- .8.28.1 These instructions are to be read in conjunction with paragraphs 16-3.10 to 16-3.16 of these Orders which deal with the subjects of "Drunkenness" and "Diabetes" .

16-8.29 Where a prisoner requires medical attention, the member in charge will, as soon as possible, arrange to have the prisoner visited by a Government Medical Officer or by any legally qualified medical practitioner if a Government Medical Officer is not

available; or:-( 1) where a legally qualified medical practitioner is not available , have the prisoner conveyed to hospital;

(2) where a legally qualified medical practitioner is not available and the prisoner cannot be conveyed to hospital, obtain advice from a legally qualified medical practitioner by the quickest practicable means and give effect to that advice.

16-8.30 Generally, any costs incurred in relation to medical treatment for an unsentenced prisoner for an illness or injury unrelated to the confinement is the prisoner's own responsibility. The costs concerned are to be brought to the notice of the prisoner and the accounts are to be paid, if practicable, before discharge from police custody. The name and address of the prisoner should be

supplied to the medical practitioner or the hospital staff and to the ambulance attendant where ambulance facilities are used.

569

16-8.30.1 The Hospitals (Service Charges) Regulations provide for sentenced and remand prisoners to be treated as public patients free of charge at public hospitals Therefore, no costs are incurred against the Prisons Department unless it is necessary to arrange

treatment at other than a public hospital.

16-8.31 A report is to be submitted to the Regional Officer following any action to obtain medical attention for a prisoner.

16-8.32 While it is appreciated that some prisoners will feign illness, medical attention is to be arranged in every appropriate instance rather than incur unnecessary risk.

16-8.33 At the time of the admission of a prisoner, anything which may indicate that a prisoner is receiving or requires medical treatment is to be noted, and any obvious injury or injury complained of by the prisoner is to be recorded on the Property Sheet in the section "Condition of Prisoner". Members should endeavour to record these details as accurately as possible as a means, among other things, of determining the prisoner's condition should such subsequently become necessary.

The Routine Orders listed in the section of the Report dealing with assessment of

intoxicated detainees are also relevant.

The following paragraph from the Police Gazette Notice 13.1.88 on Aboriginal

Arrests provides further instruction to police officers in relation to medical

attention for detainees.

(iii) An Aboriginal detained or arrested who exhibits signs of mental or physical distress should receive a medical examination at the earliest practicable opportunity and, where possible, within one hour of being taken into custody, by

either the prison medical officer, a qualified medical practitioner, a registered nurse or, if any of the foregoing are unavailable, another suitably qualified person.

The submission of the Commissioner of Police advised the Royal Commission

that 'EPLU has, in common with all other lockups, provided medical treatment to

detainees by way of government hospitals, private doctors, Aboriginal Medical

Service, StJohn's Ambulance and first aid by police' . I have no reason to doubt

that this is so. It would appear from my inquiries that medical services of some

570

sort are available in most places where a police lockup is located. These may

vary from a nursing post staffed by qualified nursing sisters and serviced by the

Hying Doctor Service in remote locations like Wiluna to large modem hospitals

in the Perth metropolitan area. Possibly a more coordinated service is required

which is something the Department is currently addressing in its proposal to

establish a Forensic Medical Service. This is discussed in more detail below.

Oearly one major factor which inhibits 24 hour medical attention being available

to detainees is that most country police stations are not staffed 24 hours a day.

Thus, even if the medical services were available for police officers to call on, if a

detainee required urgent medical attention in the early hours of the morning it is

unlikely that he/she would be able to alert the police to his/her need and obtain the

necessary medical attention. This situation is most unsatisfactory.

The Custodial Care Manual suggests that 'at one man stations where the officer in

charge is called away, and a prisoner is in custody , arrangements could be made

for local ambulance driver or nurse to visually check inmate are [sic] an additional

safeguard' . Although it is commendable that police officers make such

arrangements in the event of them not being in a position to properly supervise a

detainee I query whether it is appropriate that police officers abrogate their

responsibility in such circumstances. I suggest that it would be preferable for

detainees not to be held in police stations that are not staffed.

The other major problem which I perceived to exist in relation to detainees'

access to medical attention was the lack of understanding of police officers as to

when medical attention should be sought. Police officers must have the ability to

make an adequate assessment of a detainee to determine whether medical attention

is needed.

I have previously said in this Report and my individual Reports into the deaths

that the onus should not be solely on the detainee to request medical attention and

police officers should not rely on detainees to make a complaint before medical

571

attention is provided. In other sections I have discussed the difficulties that

Aboriginal detainees may have in either complaining to police officers about their

wellbeing or requesting medical attention. Although it is not always the case. I

have found in many instances that Aboriginal detainees may be shy or reticent in

this regard.

The Police Custodial Care Manual (W/15/52) states the following observations

about arresting Aboriginal persons:

Most Aboriginals suffer from some form of diabetics [sic] and or epilepsy, on most occasions will tell the arresting officer, usually to avoid being locked up . An astute officer will assess the seriousness of the condition of the prisoner and seriousness of the offence. In some instances it may be wiser to proceed by summons where a person is injured, or known to take epileptic fits .

The first sentence of this extract does not accord with my experience as I have

noted above. The manual also suggests certain considerations be taken into

account before deciding to arrest someone. These include:

(4) Ask the suspect if they are suffering from any illness or injury, or taking medication.

(5) If the suspect is unconscious, or not readily awoken, take DIRECT to the nearest medical and station BEFORE going to the lockup .

(6) If in doubt as to a suspect's condition, seek medical assistance to ascertain the true state of their health.

These suggestions are sensible guidelines and police officers should be instructed

to follow them in all circumstances. The following points are listed in the Manual

as measures that may help guard against deaths in custody:

(I) Where a prisoner has a medical dressing such as a bandage on a wound or injury, 'and the prisoner is going to be detained, a medical practitioner should examine the wound/injury to see if the dressing can be removed before the prisoner is placed in a cell. Where a Doctor cannot attend or where the bandage cannot be removed, the prisoner must be kept under continuous surveillance.

572

( 10) Under no circumstances are requests for medical attention to be denied or ignored.

( 17) Reliable prisoners who are to sleep on beds in the

compound at night could act as monitors, and call station 0/C should a problem arise after close of station.

At one man stations where the 0/C is called away, and a prisoner is in custody, arrangements could be made for local ambulance driver or nurse to visually check inmate as an additional safeguard.

(22) Early warning device (alarm) to be installed in a cell in the lockup, with direct link to 0/C' s quarters.

In the event of a prisoner requiring medical attention or other urgent assistance, the 0/C can be alerted and investigate.

A report proposing to both permit and encourage civilian visitors to lockups , has been submitted to the Commissioner for consideration. This proposal originated in South Hedland.

Suggestion (17) is discussed above. Suggestion (22) relating to alann systems is

discussed in section 5.2.1 of the Report dealing with police cells. I have noted in

dealing with individual reports into the deaths that if detainees are held in police

lockups which are not staffed it is absolutely essential that an alarm system is

available so that attention can be obtained if necessary.

The Webster Committee Report recognised that the skills of officers responsible

for the care of detainees need to be upgraded. The Webster Report points out that

the police need to be supported by relevant services and facilities. After

surveying the number of people requiring medical attention in lockups through

out the State and the medical services available, the Committee made the

following observations:

The EPLU is the main metropolitan centre processing large numbers of prisoners and the injuries, illnesses and attempted suicides at the unit are indicative of the need for some form of alternative medical assessment and management.

573

The country lockup facilities with a relatively high incidence of treatable cases (including suicide attempts) are Broome, Geraldton and Kalgoorlie. These centres and other country lockups in major towns utilise the medical services at District Hospitals and local general practitioners.

Figures for the metropolitan area strongly support the proposal to adopt an on-call 24 -hour medical service for the region. A nursing service for EPLU would be applauded, however existing accommodation and physical resources would make this difficult to implement. [p.5]

The Webster Committee recommended the establishment of a Statewide on-call

medical/nursing service which would initially be seen as an immediate service in

support of police officers responsible for the care of detainees. I have extracted

the following recommendations from their report relating to the establishment of

the Forensic Medical Support Service:

Recommendation 1 That an on-call Forensic Medical Support Service be established on a Statewide basis.

Recommendation 2 That medical practitioners involved in the above service be issued with guidelines on clinical forensic medicine as prepared by the Chief Forensic Pathologist, State Health Laboratory Service, QEJ/ Medical Centre.

R ecornmendation 10 To establish an in-service training programme for permanent staff of lockups (and where practicable, other staff) with an objective of heightening their awareness and assessment skills with respect to prisoner care.

Recommendation 11 That a reference booklet be published which supports the various components of care services in custody.

R ecornmendation 12 That instructions be issued to all officers concerning the need to assess all prisoners upon admission and that dl:ft. doubt regarding such person's medical/health status or ability to withstand long or short term incarceration be referred to the Forensic Medical Support Service or other general medical support.

574

Recommendation 13 The police personnel be acquainted with the philosophy of this service to enhance ready acceptance.

I support the concept of an on-call Forensic Medical Support Service. I have not

examined in any detail the way in which such a service should operate. It would

appear that the establishment of such a service should involve consultation

between the Police Department, the Health Department and relevant health

organisations such as the Aboriginal Medical Service in view of the number of

Aboriginal detainees in police lockups. I agree that appropriate training support

services as listed in recommendations 10 to 13 are also necessary.

I should also point out that the Police Department is already in the process of

renovating EPLU, part of the programme provides for a Nursing Post(freatment

Room in the lockup. On completion of the renovations a trial nursing programme

will be implemented. Like the Webster Committee I commend the establishment

of a Nursing Post at East Perth Lockup and urge its speedy implementation.

The Police Department has also informed me of the current provisions for

medical attention at East Perth Lockup. Two locum medical services are now in

use and doctors attend as required by the police for minor illnesses and injuries.

A Psychiatric Emergency Team from the Health Department is utilised to assess

distressed persons and if necessary to transfer them to suitable hospitals.

(Submission of Commissioner of Police, p.ll.)

However, access to 24-hour medical support service still places the onus on

police officers to adequately assess a detainee's condition.

Police officers cannot be expected to make an assessment of the same standard as

trained medical personnel however they can be trained to make a reasonable

assessment and if there is any doubt medical attention should be sought. I

suggested in my Report of the Inquiry into the Death of Kim Polak that some of

the burden placed on police in this regard would be alleviated by the

575

implementation of a system of daily or regular visits to the lockup by health

workers from the Aboriginal Medical Services. It is a practice which has been

established with a good deal of success at a number of lockups throughout the

State. In section 5.4.3 on AMS and the Aboriginal Health Workers, I discuss the

contact that has been made between the Police Department and the AMS and the

individual police lockups where a system of visits of AMS health workers to the

lockups have been established.

In Polak I suggested that a system of daily visits to the Kalgoorlie Lockup by the

AMS be established as a matter of urgency. I support the implementation of a

similar system in other areas where there is a demonstrated need.

The success of such systems depends on a level of cooperation between the

Police Department, the individual police stations and the various Aboriginal

Medical Services. In areas where the system is working well it appears that it is

largely dependent upon the goodwill of the individuals. It is important that

formal systems of liaison and communication be established so that current

systems do not flounder if and when the individuals leave the area.

The Police Department has indicated its policy on establishing contact with

Aboriginal Medical Services in its submission to the Commission which stated:

The provision of general medical care to prisoners is covered in existing orders and procedures, however, if the individual officers of AMS consider they can offer a better or more suitable service for Aboriginal detainees, then thev should make contact with

local stations for this purpose. [my emphasis]

Given the extremely limited resources of Aboriginal Medical Services, it is my

view that more is required of the police in this regard and they should not sit back

and wait for the local AMS to contact them. The Police Department should take

active measures to involve the AMS and to establish good communication with

them. As I note in section 5.4.3 if the AMS are to be involved in custodial care

576

then it is essential that they are adequately funded to enable them to increase their

workload.

5.2.10 CONTACTS

5.2.10.1 Aboriginal Visitors Scheme

In a report dated 10 December 1987, the Special Government Committee on

Aboriginal/Police and Community Relations recommended to the Honorable

Minister for Police that a prison visitor system be established to regularly check

on lockups and to provide a welfare or friends service to prisoners.

The Vincent Report supported the recommendation of the Special Government

Committee. The Vincent Report envisaged that Aboriginal visitors appointed

under an Aboriginal Visitor Scheme should (inter alia):

Be Aboriginals who are representatives of local community groups and can relate to the group of Aboriginals to whom they will cater;

Be able to observe, interact with and provide care and companion­ ship to prisoners from their time of admission into custody, including the stage of processing at the police station, through any period of custody at the police lockup or prison.

In February 1988 State cabinet approved the implementation of major

recommendations of the Vincent Inquiry, among them being the introduction of

an Aboriginal Visitors Scheme (A VS).

The basic function of the scheme is to provide a roster of Aboriginal persons in

areas where police lockups or prisons are located who are available to attend the

lockup or prison and provide support or counselling to Aboriginal detainees who

may be in a state of emotional disturbance.

The A VS was initially established at Kalgoorlie in June 1988. It was

subsequently introduced to the Perth metropolitan area, Broome and Geraldton.

577

The responsibility for the scheme rests jointly with the Ministers for Aboriginal

Affairs, Police and Corrective Services. The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs

through the Aboriginal Affairs Planning Authority (AAPA) is primarily

responsible for the establishment and administration of the scheme.

The Commissioner of the AAPA has a delegation from the Minister for

Aboriginal Affairs to administer the scheme on a day-to-day basis. Within the

AAPA there is an A VS Management Unit comprising a Coordinator, Research,

Policy and Training Officer, Project Officers and Administrative Assistant. The

A VS Management Unit is located in the Special Projects Branch of the AAP A.

The role of the A VS Management Unit is:

Recruitment, supervision, training and support of visitors

Administration, including rosters, payments and staffing

Intervention and liaison with Police, Corrective Services and other Government agencies

• To increase public awareness of the needs of Aboriginal people in custody

To provide research data aimed at (i) improving conditions for Aboriginal people in custody, (ii) identifying gaps in service provision, (iii) reducing the risks of death/self harm amongst detainees (Submission of the A VS to the Royal Commission

dated 22 June 1990).

In April1989 a finn of private consultants (P. Alexander and Associates Pty Ltd)

were commissioned to conduct a review and evaluation of the A VS. Their report

was presented to the AAPA in July 1989 and contained a number of

recommendations relating to the management of the scheme. The

recommendations included:

Expansion of the scheme throughout the State

Improvements in management and administration

Increase in administrative staff

578

Introduction of forward planning with anticipated outcomes

A response plan based on the recommendations of that review and evaluation has

been developed by the A VS Management Unit: The A VS Operational Plan

90f.H. The objectives of the scheme as stated in the operational plan are:

1. To provide one means of reducing the likelihood of Aboriginal deaths/self

harm in custody.

2. To ensure conditions for Aboriginal prisoners/detainees/juveniles improve

by consulting with Government Departments and decision makers with

information and advice on just and humane treatment.

3. To ensure advancement of Aboriginal Visitors Scheme by providing staff

and the community with education and information in relation to the needs

of Aboriginal prisoners/detainees/juveniles.

Selection of Visitors

Visitors appointed under the A VS are Aboriginals who have the confidence of

their local community and who are expected to be able to make informed and

objective judgements and to report appropriately. Visitors are granted an

authority from the Commissioner of the AAPA which is used as their

identification when attending lockups or prisons.

Visitors are employed on a casual basis by the AAPA. Payment is made on the

basis of the 'Group Workers' rate of $10.70 per hour with a 50% loading to

cover the nature of the work, twenty four hour availability and the 'casual' status

of the employment. Visitors are also eligible for the Public Service motor vehicle

allowance rate.

Visitors are appointed to participate in the scheme on a rostered basis in each area

of operation. The roster provides for regular attendance at prisons and police

579

lockups as well as crisis visits. Appointment of a visitor is made from

nominations made by relevant local Aboriginal organisations or by individual

application. This is followed by an interview-selection process conducted by the

A VS Management Unit and the local spokesperson of the A VS.

Current Level of SeiYice

The Commission has been informed that as at June 1990 there were 60 visitors

engaged on a casual basis to provide assistance and services to detainees. The

visitors also provide an ad hoc demand driven service and are expected to

respond on a 24 hour basis to crises involving detainees in potentially life

threatening situations.

The Submission by the A VS to the Royal Commission anticipated that in July­

August 1990 the scheme would be extended to Albany and Bunbury. In

addition, a 12 month pilot project in conjunction with the Carnarvon Aboriginal

Medical Service was due to commence in July 1990.

As at January 1990 visitors were rostered on a 24 hour basis in the following

regions:

Perth Metropolitan Area

Police Lockups: Central, Midland, Warwick, Fremantle

Prisons: Fremantle, Canning Vale, C.W. Campbell Remand

Centre, Bandyup

Institutions: Longmore, Nyandi, Graylands Hospital

Kimberley (based in Broome)

Broome Police Lockup

Broome Regional Prison

580

Gascoyne/Murchison (based in Geraldton)

Geraldton Police Lockup

Greenough Regional Prison

Eastern Goldfields (based in Kalgoorlie) ·

Kalgoorlie Police Lockup

Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison

It is interesting to note that at January 1990 over half (28 of a total of 47 visitors)

were women.

of Visitors

Training for visitors is an ongoing process. New recruits. to the scheme

undertake an eight module introductory workshop before they are engaged in the

field. The initial training programme covers topics on:

orientation to the A VS

policies and procedures of the A VS

geographical and procedural orientation of prisons, police and

institutional facilities

report writing

legal issues

crisis management and communication skills

supporting detainees who are in crisis

basic first aid

stress management

For visitors to efficiently perform their role it is essential that they possess a

sound working knowledge of the two main custodial agencies - police and

prisons. Visitors need to know the standing orders and basic procedures of the

major institutions that they are required to visit. This is for their own protection

and knowledge base. The AVS 90/91 Operational Plan anticipates that training

581

will be expanded to include rules and procedures at juvenile and mental

institutions.

Through their training visitors are expected to be equipped to recognise signs of

distress, depression and potential self-destructive behaviour in detainees and to

be capable of responding to the detainee in a constructive manner. The effects of

intoxication and other alcohol related problems are also considered in the initial

training programme.

Once the initial training has been completed, visitors are required to undergo

compulsory monthly training sessions to update their skills.

Visits to Lockups - Practice and Procedure

Visits to lockups occur in three ways:

1 . On the request of a prisoner or detainee

2. At the request of a police officer at the lockup

3. Random visits carried out by the visitors - visitors have the right to visit

lockups without notice, providing that their attendance does does not

disrupt the normal and orderly functioning of the lockup.

The Interim Guidelines for the operation of the A VS were published by the

Commissioner of Police in the Police Gazette dated 19 October 1988. Guideline 4

provided:

Visitors may enter all areas where detainees are located, however they may have access to staff/administrative areas only with the agreement of the Officer in Charge ... Where access to such area on any occasion is denied to visitors or the location of an inmate is not conducive to the discharge of the visitors duties, the Officer in Charge ... shall, where possible, provide a suitable area within which the visitors may visit the detainee.

582

Visitors at Geraldton informed the Commission that their practice on attending a

detainee at the lockup is to physically walk into the cells and sit on the floor or a

mattress to talk. On a few occasions the officer in charge of the lockup had made

the interview room available for visitors to talk with detainees (RCIADIC

W21:49).

At the East Perth Lockup the practice is for detainees to be brought into an

interview room to meet the visitor. The interview room is adjacent to the charge

counter in the lockup (W/14/43).

The Commission has been informed of regional variations in the manner in which

visitors are contacted and a request made for their attendance at a lockup. At

Kalgoorlie evidence was given that it was the practice for police to telephone the

local spokesperson of the A VS and advise her that there was a detainee who they

felt required consultation with a visitor. She would then arrange for a rostered

visitor to attend at the lockup (RCIADIC W18:276).

At Geraldton two visitors are rostered for each day on a 24 hour basis. Each

visitor in that region is also provided with a 'beeper' . The police have been

provided with a list of the beeper numbers and the telephone numbers of the

visitors. The local A VS provide the police with a roster sheet each fortnight and

when police feel that the attendance of a visitor is required they refer to that roster

and the list of telephone and beeper numbers (RCIADIC W21:18-19).

Apparently Geraldton is the only region where the use of personal beepers for

rostered visitors has been introduced. It appears to be a sensible practice which

should be considered for expansion to all regions of operation of the A VS.

Visitors generally use their own transport to attend lockups, however the

Commission has been informed of instances where police will provide transport

for visitors who do not have access to a vehicle (RCIADIC Wl8:322).

583

There is a visitors book at each lockup and prison in the regions where the

scheme is operational. Visitors are required to enter the time of their arrival, the

reason for the visit and the time of their departure from the lockup or prison in the

book. Each visitor also has a report book which is made out in duplicate.

Visitors are required to prepare a report on each visit made. The original of the

report is then submitted to the AAP A.

Reports by visitors that are routine and do not require any special attention are

checked by project officers when pay claims are submitted. Reports which

require urgent or special attention are dealt with by project officers in the

following manner:

(a) Visitors are instructed to advise the project officers as soon as possible after

the incident of the nature of the incident and action taken, if any.

(b) provide a full written report to the Coordinator of the A VS as soon as

possible thereafter.

(c) Depending on the nature of the incident, the A VS management may deal

with the matter internally or refer it to the appropriate authority for action

e.g. Police, Prisons, Aboriginal Legal Service or Aboriginal Medical

Service.

(d) A separate filing system has been developed to deal with urgent matters

arising out of visitors reports. The system has been designed to facilitate

appropriate action, follow up and confirmation of outcomes.

(e) Visitors are informed of any action taken and detainees are advised where

this is felt necessary. Visitors and detainees are similarly advised of any

outcome where appropriate.

In its submission to the Commission, the A VS stated that it was proposed that a

new reporting form and process be operational by September 1990. The new

584

fonn would be designed to improve the collection of data concerning the practical

operation of the scheme.

In a joint session before myself and Commissioner Dodson, the Commissioner

of Police, Mr Bull, was asked whether the reports of the visitors were brought to

his attention or to the attention of one of his senior officers. He replied:

To my regional officers who are responsible for the region, and then ultimately to my assistant commissioner operations - it is the assistant commissioner responsible for general uniformed staff statewide. He personally assesses the system (Underlying Issues

Conference 31 July 1990 T644)

Commissioner Bull added that he was not aware of any serious matters raised by

vi sitors that would require investigation by himself or officers under his charge:

lam sure there would be matters they would have raised that would have beenfixed at a local level, but certainly,from the assistant commissioner, he hasn't reported any serious matters (Underlying Issues Conference 31 July 1990 T644)

It is also normal practice for visitors to communicate orally with police or prison

officers before they leave the lockup or prison and advise them of any concerns

that they may have or whether the detainee appears to have settled down.

Support Committees for Visitors

The report of the Interim Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (The Vincent

Report) stated that local Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committees where established,

could provide a useful support service for visitors (Vincent report page 68). It

has been the experience of the A VS that due to the established structure of the

Liaison Committees, they may not necessarily be capable of adequately meeting

the needs of the local A VS.

Project officers of the A VS, in conjunction with AVS spokespersons and

delegates, have been consulting with local Aboriginal community organisations,

shire councils and police and prison authorities to assist in the establishment of

585

committees that would be able to provide appropriate support in resolving

Aboriginal issues arising out of A VS work at the local level.

The Commission has received evidence of a relatively high resignation rate of

visitors from the scheme. One of the visitors in Geraldton estimated a rate of

50% due to stress (RCIADIC W21:13). When questioned about the pressures

affecting visitors Ms Brockman stated:

Well, some of the problems they seem to have is in regard to the employment side of it and also there is personal problems in regard to - if the person is married or living in a de facto relationship you' re getting calls all hours of the day and night so you have to leave more or less immediately. A third one is the stress part of it because people are dying in custody or attempting suicide so some people

can't cope with that (RCIADIC, W21: 17).

As a response to the problem of stress affecting visitors a support panel has been

organised for the visitors at Geraldton. The panel comprises doctors,

psychologists and social workers. The Superintendent of Police and the

Superintendent of Greenough Regional Prison may also participate in the panel.

It is considered that the establishment of similar support panels in other regions

of operation of the A VS would be a positive move towards reducing the

likelihood of 'burnout' and ensuring the retention of visitors in the scheme. It is

recognised, however, that with the anticipated expansion of the scheme

throughout the state smaller country centres may not have the necessary human

resources to allow for the establishment of similar panels.

Other Difficulties Confronting the A VS

Visitors have stated in evidence before the Commission that in addition to

providing immediate crisis counselling and emotional support to detainees they

often find themselves being asked to perform a welfare or para-legal role. (The

'welfare' aspect of a visitor's role in relation to prison inmates is considered in

detail in Part 5.3.6 of this Report).

586

Detainees may request assistance or information from visitors regarding bail,

representation on charges, contacting family members, the Community Services

or Social Security Departments or they may require medical attention or referral to

a medical agency such as AMS. Much of this work requires follow up by

visitors once they have counselled a detainee creating extra pressure and demands

on the visitors' time.

Visitors have informed the Commission that where possible they will act as

referral agents, notifying the appropriate Department or organisation that a

detainee requires their assistance. There have been experienced regional

differences in the degree to which visitors have been provided with support by

outside agencies. Joseph Bridge, a project officer with the A VS with

responsibility for country areas informed the Commission:

I was recently in Kalgoorlie. To my observation Kalgoorlie in comparison with Geraldton and Broome - there appeared to be a willingness on the part of the other agencies which I referred to earlier to co-operate or certainly assist the Aboriginal Visitors Scheme. Now, to my observation in Geraldton and Broome it is the

contrary. I feel that the visitors are not getting the assistance in these centres which our visitors are getting in Kalgoorlie. That is mainly from Agencies.

Q. Which agencies?

A. The Aboriginal Legal Service, the Department of Community Services and the Health Department. These are the agencies that we mainly come into contact with through the course of our work (RCIADIC, W21:58)

In section 4.2.5 of this Report I have referred to the under-resourcing of the ALS

in this state and their resultant inability to adequately service all Aboriginal

detainees - even in towns where a solicitor or field officer is based.

Consequently, part of the burden of providing legal advice and assistance with

matters such as bail has fallen to members of the A VS.

587

Another matter of concern which has been brought to the attention of the

Commission (and particularly so in the initial stages of the scheme) has been a

lack of knowledge among police and prison officers about the scheme:

You may find one or two senior officers at each lockup who are aware of the scheme and who work towards it's proper operation, however, I have found that there are young officers at the lockups who seem to know nothing about the scheme (RCIADIC, Wl4)

It is essential for the continued successful working of the scheme that police and

prison officers have a sound understanding of the operation of the A VS and the

respective rights of visitors, detainees and officers under the scheme. Training in

the operation of the A VS should be a component of police cadet and probationary

prison officer courses.

I must emphasise however, that the overwhelming impression received by the

Commission from both police officers and visitors was that the scheme is both

successful and necessary. Joseph Bridge stated:

I personally have had discussions with police superintendents, sergeants ofpolice, and generally the response from them has been very good and they certainly welcome the scheme and the continuation of the scheme. They see it as necessary and certainly a scheme which relieves the Police Department and the prisons department of some of the concerns and responsibilities (RCIADIC, W21:81)

The Future of the AVS

I consider that the A VS is a valuable initiative in moves to reduce the likelihood

of suicide, attempted suicide and incidents of self harm amongst Aboriginal

detainees. For example, the scheme commenced in Geraldton in November

1988. Whilst there had been two deaths in the six months prior to the

introduction of the scheme, there has only been one death in custody in the

Geraldton area since the A VS commenced operation in the region.

588

A further indication of the success of the scheme and its acceptance by police may

be found in evidence of police requests for Aboriginal visitors to attend distressed

European prisoners (RCIADIC W21 :55). I believe that it is imperative that the

scheme be expanded to all areas of the state and that it be assured of continuation

by commitment of resources and recurrent funding.

I note that to date the A VS has not received recognition in state legislation.

Presuming that Government is intent on the retention and expansion of the

scheme it appears proper and necessary that the scheme be given legislative

backing - either by amendment to existing relevant legislation relating to lockups

and prisons or by the introduction of a separate statute. Such a move would

enable the A VS to negotiate on more equal terms with the Police Department, the

Department of Corrective Services, the Department for Community Services and

the Health Department when seeking changes in custodial practice to the

betterment of Aboriginal detainees.

I also note the recommendation contained in the A VS submission to the

Commission that a high level coordinating/advisory group comprising

representatives from visitors and the main departments and agencies involved in

the operation of the scheme be introduced. Such a body could provide a senior

forum for consideration of strategic plans, policy issues, broad programme

direction and scheme promotion.

5.2.10.2 Family and Friends of a Prisoner

Stress amongst detainees may be caused or contributed to by (inter alia) a sense

of confinement and of isolation from family and friends. Such stress may be

considerably alleviated (if not removed) where a detainee is aware that he or she

has the right and the practical ability to maintain reasonable contact with their

family during their time in custody.

589

In addition, it may be necessary for contact to be made with relatives in situations

where the detainee requires a surety before he or she may be released to bail.

I have already referred to the resolution of the Australian Police Ministers'

Council regarding Aboriginal arrests and published in the Police Gazette under

the authority of the Commissioner of Police on 13 January 1988. The summary

of practices and procedures adopted by the Council provided in clause (ii)(b) that:

Should it be necessary to detain an Aboriginal person every effort should be made to advise relatives ,friends or the Aboriginal Legal Service.

This is commendable in theory, however in practice notification, or attempts to

notify friends and relatives following an arrest may not take place. Inspector

Cullen (officer in charge of the Midland Police Station) gave evidence on this

point in the inquiry into the death of Christine Jones :

Q. But is it a case of the prisoner having to ask to make contact or is it the case that it's part of the procedure that the police will automatically ensure that either they contact relatives, friends or the ALS or at least give the opportunity to the

prisoner to contact relatives ,friends or the ALS?

A. I would say that- no, it's not always the practice that that is done. But, as I say, the overriding factor is that we do our best to get all prisoners out of the lockup as soon as possible. If it means advising the relatives and friends, we do it.

(RCIADIC W3:323)

In a letter from the office of the Commissioner of Police to the Crown Law

Department following upon a request from the Royal Commission it was stated:

Any decision concerning a request to inform friends or relatives of an arrested person is determined at the local level. Prevailing circumstances would no doubt have some bearing on the resources that could be utilised. (W/17/119)

Where a person is not arrested in the presence of friends or relatives it is

important that they be given opportunity and, where necessary, assistance to

contact the same. Any sense of isolation of the detainee and concern of the family

590

as to his or her whereabouts would thereby be allayed or reduced. It is suggested

that Police Routine Orders and/or Station Orders at each lockup be amended to

reflect a right of a detainee to make a telephone call to family and friends once

processing after reception at the lockup has been completed.

In relation to visits to persons detained in police lockups, Routine Order 16-8.26

provides:

Any relative or friend of a prisoner is entitled to visit the prisoner at any reasonable hour approved by the member in charge, but any such visit is to be held in the presence and within the hearing of a member. Sentenced prisoners are entitled to weekly visits from relatives andfriends and such additional visits as the member in charge may allow.

The entitlement of prisoners to visits from family and friends as expressed in

Routine Orders is noted with approval. I have earlier commented on the design

and arrangements at the Wiluna Lockup which allow for face to face contact

between detainees and visitors, and on the recommendations of Dr Reser (1989)

in his paper on the Design of Safe & Humane Police Cells.

I note that the current Halls Creek Lockup also allows for easy access by family

to detainees. During the day prisoners are confined in a large grassed exercise

area separated from the street by cyclone fencing. Family and friends may

converse with prisoners through the fence and occasionally provide them with

food and drink. The relatively relaxed and easy going atmosphere that this

engenders is likely to better maintain the psychological well-being of Aboriginal

prisoners than the enclosed structures that exist at lockups such as Broome and

South Hedland.

5.2.10.3 Aboriginal Legal Service

A potential source of stress for detainees awaiting an appearance in court is

uncertainty as to their fate regarding both possible conviction and sentence. This

is particularly so where persons have been charged with indictable (or serious)

591

offences. It is important that detainees have the right to notify a legal

representative of their arrest and the right to consult with that representative

whilst they are in custody. This need was recognised in the Muirhead Interim

Report, Recommendation 11 of which provided:

Where practicable the Aboriginal Legal Service should be notified in all instances of the detention of any Aboriginal person in custody, where it is not possible to contact an officer of that service, such notification should be given to a person designated by the local Aboriginal community to receive such advice.

I consider that the words 'where practicable' should be read as applying to those

areas where an ALS solicitor or field officer is stationed in the same town or

immediate locality as the lockup.

Police Routine Order 16-8. 23 presently provides :

A prisoner held a lockup is entitled to communicate with a solicitor or solicitor's clerk and all necessary arrangements to enable a prisoner to communicate with a solicitor are to be made. A member shall not influence prisoners in their choice of a solicitor.

There is no requirement under Routine Orders that police automatically notify the

ALS upon detention of an Aboriginal person. The Commissioner of Police has

informed the Commission that the ALS is advised of the arrest of an Aboriginal

person only where a request is specifically made by that person (Response of the

Commissioner of Police to specific questions by the Royal Commission

page 18).

It is also noted that some statutes (e.g. Section 63 of the Road Traffic Act)

contain a requirement that police notify a person charged that they have a right to

communicate with a legal practitioner and another person nominated by him.

Attendance by officers of the ALS at police stations in W A is specifically

recognised in Police Routine Order 1-1 :

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U...8. Aboriginal Legal Service Field or Liaison Officers will visit Police Stations from time to time as part of their duties in arranging bail, interviewing witnesses and so on. Members are to facilitate the performance of those duties. .

1-1. 10 Any advertising card or notice received from the Service is to be displayed so that Aboriginal people in need of legal assistance may know whom to contact.

From evidence presented to this Commission it appears that in country areas

where ALS field officers are located , the common practice is for the field officer

to either attend at or telephone the local lockup each morning prior to the

commencement of the days court. Police then provide the field officer with a list

of those Aboriginals held in custody overnight and the offences with which they

have been charged.

The Commissioner of Police has informed the Commission that the situation in

the Perth metropolitan area is as follows:

At the East Perth Lockup and at other metropolitan lockups, police only contact the ... ALS at the request of the Aboriginal person in custody. The ALS does not visit the lockup and the arrangement is that any Aboriginal person in custody is allowed access to the Legal

Aid [Commission] solicitor who visits the lockup each morning before court. This solicitor either represents the Aboriginal prisoner in court or refers the prisoner to the ALS. (Response of the Commissioner of Police to specific questions by the Royal

Commission, July 1990 page 18)

One fonner ALS field officer who had been stationed at Broome told the

Commission:

The police co-operated fully in allowing me to visit clients in the lockup and they notified me when clients were arrested to explain to the client the charges of DUI [Driving Under the Influence] prior to the client being placed in the lockup (W/12/30)

This is the only instance brought to my attention of police notifying ALS upon

the arrest of an Aboriginal person, although other ALS field officers who gave

evidence before the Commission noted that they had access to their local lockup

593

at any time and could attend to interview clients without notice (RCIADIC

Wl8:335).

As a general principle I support the recommendation of Commissioner Muirhead

(as he then was) that current procedure be modified to provide for notice to be

given to the ALS by police upon the arrest and detention of an Aboriginal person.

However, I would make the following comments: as detailed in section 4 .2.5 of

this Report, the ALS is currently understaffed and underfunded, particularly in

country areas. For the ALS to be notified of each arrest of an Aboriginal person

irrespective of the nature of the charge could place an intolerable burden upon

their resources - similarly with the police who would be required to perform the

notification.

In many areas a substantial numbers of the arrests made are for relatively trivial

matters e.g. Street drinking and public order offences such as Disorderly

Conduct. Provided that in those situations bail is promptly considered, detainees

have the ability to notify friends or relatives of their arrest and, where necessary,

police notify agencies such as the A VS or AMS, there may be little need for

immediate notification or attendance by officers of the ALS.

However, I believe that a different set of considerations apply where an

Aboriginal person is arrested on a serious or indictable matter. Whereas a

detainee may have some idea of the range of possible penalties that he may face

upon conviction for disorderly conduct, the same cannot be expected where he or

she is charged with offences such as serious assaults, woundings, break and

enter offences or sexual assaults. These are charges that are likely to require

detailed and considerate explanation to the accused person. In many instances

they are incapable of being dealt with upon the accused person's first appearance

in court and he or she may also require assistance in obtaining a surety before

they may be released to bail.

594

I consider that it would be of considerable value if there existed some

arrangement whereby the ALS is notified by police on each occasion that an

Aboriginal person is detained on a serious matter as outlined above. This may

call for a process of negotiation between the ALS and the Police Department to

establish a mutually satisfactory set of procedures.

5.2.10.4 AMS and Aboriginal Health Workers

Matters concerning access of AMS staff to detainees in police lockups, in

particular Aboriginal Health Workers, are considered in section 5.4.4 of this

Report.

5.2.11 ABORIGINAL/POLICE RELATIONS

'They're in control, they're the boss' (RCIADIC W/18/331)

Introduction

In my inquiries into the deaths in Western Australia the issue of relations between

Aboriginal people and the police has been of considerable significance. When

one examines the reasons for the high level of over-representation of Aboriginal

people in police custody and the disproportionate number of Aboriginal deaths in

police custody it is not difficult to understand the hostility and suspicion that

appear to mark relations between Aboriginals and the police. Commissioner

Dodson has examined the nature of Aboriginal/Police relations in detail in his

Report but it is also an issue which I feel I must address. In my inquiries

throughout the State the message that came through to me very strongly from

Aboriginal people was that they thought Aboriginal/Police relations were very

poor. On the other hand, although police officers generally were aware that

problems existed in their relations with the Aboriginal community, the prevalent

view appeared to be that relations were reasonable and had probably improved in

recent times. There seemed little understanding or awareness amongst police of

595

the Aboriginal perspective on the state of relations. That lack of understanding

seemed to me indicative of the problem.

It was clear that the situation was panicularly poor in some areas, e.g. Kalgoorlie. In other areas where there had been a lot of work to try to

improve police and community relations the efforts had paid off to some extent,

e.g. Broome. However there always seemed to be room for improvement. I will

discuss these areas in more detail below.

Another issue directly related to Aboriginal/Police relations was the

dissatisfaction in Aboriginal communities with Aboriginal Police Aides and their

role in Aboriginal/Police relations. Police Aides who appeared before the

Commission were generally dissatisfied with their situation. Right from the start

of the police aide scheme there has existed a dilemma between the policing duties

and the liaison role of police aides. Again, this issue has been discussed in detail

by Commissioner Dodson in his Report but, given the amount of information

conveyed to me during my inquiries, I have addressed this issue in more detail

below. I will also consider the roles of Aboriginal police officers and efforts

made by the Department lO increase their numbers.

In discussing the state of Aboriginal/Police relations I am all too aware of the

volume of material that has already been written on this issue and previous

recommendations that have been made. It is with some dismay that I feel

compelled to add my voice to that of others because my inquiries reveal that very

little has changed. I add that it is with some degree of circumspection that I focus

on police and their relations with the Aboriginal community, as Commissioner

Muirhead (as he then was) pointed out in the Interim Report (p. 19), the police

'are likely to be regarded as the cutting edge of an uncaring white society' . The

lack of understanding and recognition of Aboriginal society and culture is

widespread throughout white society. Yet the extent of contact between

Aboriginals and the police and the resentment that Aboriginal people have at the

596

high level of interference by police in their lives has been an issue which has

arisen in many of the deaths I have investigated.

Aboriginal Attitudes Towards Police

The bitter 200 year history of contact between Aboriginal people and non­

Aboriginal society, and the way in which police have been used by the white

community to control Aboriginal people is a starting point in understanding

Aboriginal attitudes towards the Police. Maureen Kelly, a community

development officer with the W.A. Alcohol & Drug Authority at Port Hedland,

summed it up in this way:

A lot of Aboriginal people in Port Hedland don't like the police, it stems backfrom a long time ago. I don't know of an Aboriginal people who can say that he likes a policeman, whether they've been arrested or not it is just a - the same as they don't like native

welfare, because native welfare took their kids away. The police used to lock them up, it is a part of your tradition that you don't like policemen (RCIADIC W8:266).

The major concerns expressed by Aboriginal people about the police were their

lack of understanding and ability to communicate with Aboriginal people; their

racism; the harassment of Aboriginal peoples especially the younger people,

through intimidating policing practices; the use of abusive and racist language;

rough treatment received by Aboriginals, again especially the young men, at the

hands of the police; the general attitude of the police towards Aboriginal people;

the unfair treatment Aboriginals received in relation to complaints against the

police or non-Aboriginal people; the lack of training and knowledge police have

about Aboriginal society and culture, especially younger officers, and the

inappropriate placement of police officers in towns with significant Aboriginal

populations. I discuss many of these concerns below in greater detail.

Police Attitude Towards Aboriginals

Most police officers who gave evidence to the Commission expressed the opinion

that the main factor in police contact with Aboriginal people was alcohol.

597

During the course of my inquiries the strongest impression I gained about police

attitudes towards Aboriginal people was a general lack of care for Aboriginal

people especially those who had been detained in their custody. It was a view

that I have expressed in several individual case reports. I recognise the conflict

that exists for a police officer in carrying out his/her custodial duties in providing

secure custody and at the same time having to provide for the welfare needs of

detainees, yet this conflict in the custodians role does not justify the lack of care

and indifferent treatment that my inquiries have revealed all too starkly.

Police understanding of and ability to communicate with Aboriginal people

Throughout my inquiries I found that the general attitude of most police officers

was that they believed they could communicate adequately with Aboriginals and

that Aboriginal people understood them.

Many Aboriginal people disagreed with this view. One Aboriginal person

expressed the situation in Port Hedland in this way:

Police Aides would understand what the Aboriginal people are saying and maybe 1 or 2 policemen that have been here for quite a long time, all who have been to school with Aboriginal kids, all who have been involved in Aboriginal communities would be able to communicate. But say out of 25 policemen that you have got here now I would say maybe two of them could communicate effectively with Aboriginal people (RCIADIC W8:278).

In my inquiry into the death of Jimmy Njanji the police claimed they could easily

understand him and he they, yet all other evidence indicates he had virtually no

understanding of English and spoke his tribal language.

Many Aboriginal people were also of the view that most police officers have little

or no understanding of Aboriginal history, culture and lifestyle. Obviously this

would reflect on their ability to communicate with Aboriginal people.

One Aboriginal witness, when asked about prevention of deaths in custody, said:

598

I think the police officers need to understand Aboriginal people more than they do at the present moment. I think their attitude towards Aboriginal people compared to white people needs to change in that they've got to understand that the Aboriginal person

is still a human being the same as a white person and treat them as fairly as they can (RCIADIC W18:345).

Many Aboriginal people and senior police officers expressed the view that it was

the young police officers who had recently finished their training who were

particularly ignorant in relation to Aboriginal affairs. It is interesting to note that

the AIU Report also pointed out that officers of recent overseas origin were

noticeably lacking in understanding (A.I.U. Final Report, p.8).

Use of Abusive and Racist Language

Aboriginal people complained about the lack of respect shown to them by the

police swearing when talking to them. Aboriginal people thought that police

would not act in this way if talking to white people. In the Morrison case a police

officer gave evidence that the police referred to Ben Morrison as 'a warb', a

derogatory term for a person, particularly an Aboriginal, who is frequently

arrested for drunkenness (RCIADIC W15:55). In some places the complaints

were more severe and Aboriginals spoke of some police officers using racist or

abusive language towards them.

Evidence I heard in Kalgoorlie caused me grave concerns about the level of

racism that existed in the police force. Many Aboriginal witnesses told me about

police officers using offensive and provocative language towards them. Two

former senior police aides (both with ten years duty in the force) gave evidence

that the police at Kalgoorlie used racist terms such as 'Nigger', 'Coon', 'Boong',

and 'Rock Ape' to describe Aboriginal people. Other terms Aboriginal people

complained of were 'black bastard' and 'black cunt' (W/17!20).

One former police aide said:

599

If anybody said it in front of me, I said 'Look, cut it out' . That's what I would say, but if I keep on going out and pulling them up , they mightn't talk to me, you know. I had to work there. It was my bread and butter. Who wants to go to work where nobody is going to talk to youfor the whole day or they're not going to go out and do patrols with you? (RCIADIC W18: 127)

The same aide was also asked:

Q: Were there any people at the police station who,from your experience, appeared to be really racist people, who really disliked Aboriginal people? A: I think skin deep they all don ' t like Aboriginal people.

Q: You think they all dislike Aboriginal people? A I reckon.

Q: Did that make your job as a Police Aide difficult? A Whydoyouthinklgotout (RCIADICW18:134)

The other former police aide was also asked about the use of racist language:

Q: Was that only the odd few officers or was it pretty common for police officers in Kalgoorlie to use those names about Aboriginal people? A I think it was common terms that police officers used in

practice (RCIADIC W18)

Police officers who gave evidence in the Kalgoorlie cases agreed that some

officers used racist terms but gave the impression that the usage was limited to a

small minority. One officer expressed the view that the term 'Nigger' was not

offensive (RCIADIC W17:405). The Aboriginal witnesses conveyed a very

different perspective to me.

The Royal Commission asked the Police Department what steps it had taken to

counteract racist attitudes amongst police officers. The response of the

Commissioner of Police was:

None, specifically, however, all police officers are required to be accepted by the community where they work. Any person exhibiting racist attitudes is not accepted and appropriate action would be taken by the department, i.e. training or supervision

600

(Response of Commissioner of Police to specific questions raised by the Royal Commission, p.44, Q.12.8).

The Royal Commission tflen asked the Police Department to clarify its answer

given the evidence in the Kalgoorlie cases which showed that the use of racist

terms generally appeared accepted by the officers stationed there. The

Commissioner of Police said:

On our interpretation of the evidence in the Kalgoorlie cases, the use of derogatory and racist terms was not widespread and did not reflect a systematic practice. Individual officers on occasions may use such terms and they may swear and utter profanities. None of this conduct is necessarily evident of discriminatory attitudes that require a firmer response (Response by the Police Department which the Royal Commission would like clarified 31.8.90 Q.12.8).

I find this response of the Department illustrative of a general lack of

preparedness to accept the evidence of witnesses other than the police and to

respond in a positive way to criticism. This attitude has coloured the police

response throughout the life of my commission in Western Australia.

Harassment

The AIU informed the Royal Commission that most Aboriginal people who they

spoke to believed that some police officers set out to harass Aboriginal people

causing many Aborigines to develop a fear of all police. They found that:

There was general agreement that intimidation by harassment fostered hostility towards police among the Aboriginal community (this was often accompanied by harassment in hotels and business houses) (Final Report of AIU Sept 1990 p. 9).

Aboriginal people have told me in evidence about harassment by the police. The

resentment it causes is obvious.

There appeared to be a general perception amongst Aboriginal people that they

were singled out for attention through discriminatory policing practices in a way

601

that non-Aboriginal people were not. Aboriginal people were particularly

concerned about the way in which Aboriginal youths were treated.

Targeting of Communities. Families and Individuals

Some families felt that they had been targeted by the police for special attention.

This seemed to be a particular problem for some families actively involved in

campaigning for Aboriginal rights who felt that they had been labelled as

'troublemakers' by the police. These people complained of policing practices

such as spotlighting their houses at night and regular patrols of their

neighbourhoods (e.g. Cameron family). There were also complaints that certain

individuals who were known to the police because of previous offences

committed would be singled out for attention by the police whenever an offence

had been committed. This would result in arrest and questioning by the police

(e.g. Bernard McGrath).

There was evidence in the Pat case of the police making patrols of the town area,

the hotel and 'the village', an area consisting of half a dozen streets occupied by

Aboriginal families, as frequently as five-six times on the afternoon shift of

pension week. An officer commenting on the frequency of the visits to the hotel

said:

The purpose of going into the hotel was to show the flag . Show the uniform. I still do the same thing today. It shows the uniform to those who are there in case there might be trouble (RCIADIC W19:3382)

In particular, Aboriginal youths felt they had been singled out for unfair attention

by the police. Many young Aboriginal people in Kalgoorlie complained that the

police would stop and question them in the street when they were just walking

along. This was especially the case at night (see statements of Mark Champion,

W/17/l8a; L Champion, W/17/20). I was also told about young Aboriginal

fellows being stopped by the police for trifling matters (RCIADIC Wl8:320)

602

Aboriginal Police Aides in Gerald ton spoke of their policing practices in relation

to juveniles. They said it was good policing practice to stop and speak to all

juveniles who they considered should be at school and may be truanting. They

also said they would question any person who appeared to be new in town.

It is interesting to note that what is seen as good policing practice by the Police Aides is seen as harassment by many Aboriginal people.

I should point out that last year the Commissioner of Police issued an instruction

in the Police Gazette (No. 38, 27.9.89) which set out the circumstances in which

police officers could lawfully demand a person's name and address pursuant to

section 50 of the Police Act. He said:

(The power is exercisable only where there is a reasonable suspicion that the person on whom the demand is made, has committed an offence or is a witness to the commission of an offence. It is not to be used for name checks unless this suspicion exists.

Where a member may lawfully demand a person's name and address, the member shall:-( 1) leave no doubt in the mind of the person being questioned that the request is being made by police;

(2) unless in uniform, identify themselves by name and designation and produce his or her Certificate of Identity;

(3) advise the person of the reason for which their name and address is being requested; and

(4) fully explain to the person the consequences of refusing to supply their name and address

He advised members that any unreasonable exercise of the power of arrest under

Section 50 would be viewed seriously.

It would appear to me that in some areas with significant Aboriginal populations

little attention is paid to this instruction. This is not surprising in view of the lack

603

of adherence to Routine and instructions which I have observed

throughout my inquiries (see discussion at 5.2.7 of the Report).

Vehicles

I have also been told of the way in which vehicles occupied by Aboriginal people

are singled out for attention by police. A witness in the Kalgoorlie cases told me

about how his car has been followed by police for about 50 kms. He said:

I think the police have this idea in the back of their head- they see a car driving along. They will pull the car up under any sort of explanation. They will say 'You didn't have your indicator lights on' , things like that. But the moment that car is stopped they ask everyone to get out, ask them all their names. That happened to me a couple of days ago - down at Coolgardie (RCIADIC W18: 321)

The witness pointed out the resentment that actions of this kind cause in the

community (RCIADIC W18:321) .

Rough Treatment

I found in the McGrath case that Bernard McGrath suffered injuries in the police

station the week prior to his death. Many of McGrath's friends made allegations

of mistreatment by the Kalgoorlie police. One witness told the Commission that

many young Aboriginal men were scared of the police saying that they will get a

'flogging up' or a 'smack in the mouth' (RCIADIC W18 :320). Another witness

told me that he was punched in the stomach and charged with resisting arrest

(W/I7nta).

Other witnesses told me of their treatment on arrest. One witness said:

I remember one time being picked up when I refused to give the police my name and address. They handcuffed me and lay me down in the back of the paddy wagon. They then drove around quickly, so I was rolling around the back hitting my head on the

seats. I struggled to sit up so I wouldn't hurt my head. I believe they did it on purpose. (W/17/18a).

Murray Stubbs told the Commission that there are lots of complaints about

Aboriginal people being mistreated and rough-handled by the police in

Kalgoorlie. He said he receives complaints that Aboriginal people are being

assaulted by the police at the police station and at the time of the arrest.

Aboriginal Drinking Places

Elsewhere in the Report I have discussed police practices in relation to Liquor Act

offences of street and park drinking and the impact these offences have on

Aboriginal people.

There was evidence of police practices in Roebourne at the time of John Pat's

death which involved constant patrolling of the town with people being moved

from the park to the river. Then when they were drinking down at the river the

police would come and make multiple arrests for drinking in a public place. The

more recent approach taken by the police in Roeboume appears to be far more

low key with comparatively few arrests for these offences.

However, the evidence in Kalgoorlie and Halls Creek indicated that many people

were still being arrested for street and park drinking. Evidence showed that the

police in Kalgoorlie were constantly patrolling the drinking spots favoured by the

Aboriginal fringe-dwelling population and moving them on when they were

found drinking in these places. As I said in the Polak Report:

Arrest is undoubtedly a very expensive way to deal with the relatively minor problem posed by the Aboriginal fringe dwellers who have nowhere to drink in Kalgoorlie and not only in monetary terms. It is extremely wasteful of police and court time, and in

social terms aggravates tensions between police and Aboriginals. Effectively it persecutes some of the most unfortunate members of our society. (Report page 51)

Warrants

I also received complaints from Aboriginal people that the police would execute

warrants on them twice, i.e. they would have paid the fine or served time in

605

default, the police would not cancel the warrant, the person would then be re­

arrested and have the warrant executed against them again. The inquiry into the

death of Stanley Brown found that there had been a double execution of a warrant

against the deceased shortly before his death. The Police Department was asked

about this and its response was as follows:

Warrants are normally endorsed on the reverse side, upon execution by the arresting officer. In some cases, due to human error, double execution could occur but this would be the exception rather than the rule (Responses by the Police Department which the Royal Commission would like clarified, 31 August 1990).

This seems a rather feeble response when the double execution can result in the

unlawful detention of a person in custody due to police error. It would seem that

police practices in this regard need to be given further attention especially in view

of the number of complaints made by Aboriginal people of this practice.

Aboriginal Perceptions of the Attitude of the Police

The above response perhaps highlights some of my concerns about the attitude of

the police towards Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people expressed many

concerns about the way in which the police took advantage of people who did not

know their rights. One Aboriginal witness expressed the police attitude in this

way:

If the police are speaking to me then he knows that I know the law. If he is speaking to a fringe dweller he will stand over that person and do whatever he likes (RCIADIC W18:332).

I was also referred to perceptions by Aboriginal people of unfair or

discriminatory application of the Law. In Kalgoorlie I was told how the police

would always pick up Aboriginals first in fights before they would touch any

white persons involved (RCIADIC W18:320-321). Aboriginal people also felt

that they had difficulty in obtaining police action or assistance if they presented a

complaint, particularly against a police officer or white person.

606

Complaints Against the Police

The subject of complaints against police is discussed in detail in Commissioner

Dodson's Report and I will go no further than to say that it is apparent that it is

extremely difficult for Aboriginal people firstly to make complaints about the

police and secondly that the current mechanisms for dealing with such complaints

are ineffective in relation to Aboriginal people.

The difficulties for Aboriginal people in making complaints appear to be

numerous. A primary concern is the possibility of harassment or retribution if a

complaint is made. There is also a reluctance if the complaint involves

questioning the word of the police against the Aboriginal person. Aboriginal

persons have expressed the need to have witnesses before making a complaint.

The Report of the Equal Opportunity Commission entitled 'Review of Police

Practices ' addresses some of the problems with the current mechanisms for

lodging complaints under the Equal Opportunities Act (see Recommendations 4

& 5 and discussion at pp. 56-58 of the Report). Commissioner Dodson

examines the difficulties in lodging complaints with the Police Department and

the mechanisms of internal police investigations. He also looks at the

investigation process of the State Ombudsman in relation to complaints of

Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal Police Aides

Background

The Aboriginal Police Aide scheme was established in Western Australia in 1975.

Since the 1830s, 'black trackers' had been used by the police force in this State.

It could be said that the introduction of the Police Aide scheme to some extent legitimised their ongoing employment.

607

The scheme originated from a request from the Mowanjum Aboriginal

community (near Derby in the Kimberley region of W.A.) for assistance in

establishing a system of community policing because the Mowanjum Council

was concerned about law and order issues in both the community and in the town

of Derby. They wanted a community policeman who would primarily be

accountable to the Council of Elders which would select the applicants, contribute

to the wages and pay for the uniform. The community policeman would live at

Mowanjum. Police assistance was requested in the provision of uniforms and

training and to make daily visits from Derby (Report 'Law Enforcement or

Liaison, A Review of the Aboriginal Police Aides Scheme', 1987, pp. 8-11).

Legislation enabling the appointment of Aboriginal police aides was passed in

1975. In June 1975 the first police aides were appointed in the Kimberleys. One

of the first aides appointed said he received no training or guidance as to his role

and duties, priorto commencing work (RCIADIC W4:181).

The police aid scheme that was introduced was quite different to the original

request of the Mowanjum Aboriginal Community. Police aides are selected,

equipped, paid and controlled by the Police Department. They are attached to the

police stations and live in town. The day to day training and supervision of

police aides is the responsibility of the officer in charge of the police station to

which an aide is attached. The police aides are accountable to the Police

Department and not the Aboriginal community.

In 1983 the Police Department published a guide entitled Directives for the

Guidance of Aboriginal Police Aides. This provides the only guidance to aides

as to their role and duties. It describes the 'main aims' of the scheme as follows:

(a) To improve Aboriginal/police relations

(b) To improve communications between Aboriginals and police, i.e. aides acting as interpreters

(c) To assist Aboriginals who are in police custody

608

(d) To assist Aboriginals to understand basic statute laws

(e) To encourage Aboriginals to approach police stations or police for assistance

(f) To encourage and promote racial harmony within the community.

Number of Police Aides

There are presently 61 Aboriginal police aides in Western Australia, three under

approved strength. They were located in the following areas as at 19 July 1989:

TABLE 5.1: NUMBER AND LOCATION OF POLICE AIDES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Police Station Albany Broome Carnarvon Collie Derby Esperance Fitzroy Crossing Gerald ton Halls Creek Kalgoorlie Kununurra Laverton Leonora Marble Bar Meekatharra Metropolitan Midland Moora MtMagnet Mullewa Narrogin Newman Northam Nullagine

Onslow Port Hedland Roe bourne South Hedland

Wiluna Wyndham

TOfAL

609

No. 1

4

2

1

1

1

2

4

3

1

2

I

2

I

1

13 1

I

I

I

1

1

1

I

1

2

2

2

3

2

60

Since the establishment of the scheme, 128 police aides have been recruited, of

that number sixty have resigned, three were dismissed, one is deceased and eight

have subsquently joined the force as police officers (Review of the Aboriginal

Police Aide Scheme 19 October 1989).

Problems with the Police Aide Scheme

In March 1986 the Special Government Committee on Aboriginal/Police

Community Relations commenced a review of the Aboriginal police aide scheme

with the approval of the Minister for Police. This arose following strong

expressions of dissatisfaction with the police aide scheme at the Government

summit meeting into Aboriginal/police relations in 1984 following the death of

John Pat.

The review was completed in June 1987 and the Report entitled 'Law

Enforcement or Liaison, A Review of the Aboriginal Police Aides Scheme'

(Police Aides Review (1987)) was forwarded to the Minister for Police. The

Report was never released publicly although some of its recommendations were

incorporated into the scheme. The Police Aides Review (1987) described the

'central theme' arising out of the review as the 'widespread confusion about the

aides' role and duties'. My inquiries showed that most Aboriginal people and

aides themselves thought aides should primarily function to provide liaison

between the Aboriginal community and the police. The role that they were

actually fulfilling was one of policing and law enforcement.

The main thrust of the Report was that the conflict between police aides' law

enforcement duties and their liaison role had to be resolved. The Report

recommended that the conflict be resolved in favour of the liaison role. These

recommendations have not been implemented.

Many of the issues that were raised in the Police Aides Review (1987) were the

same as the concerns expressed to me during my inquiries by members of

610

Aboriginal communities and the police aides. It is apparent that similar concerns

were presented to the Equal Opportunity Commission in its Review of Police

Practices (see Report at pp. 62-64) and to Commissioner Dodson.

I set out below the main concerns expressed to me about the current police aide

scheme. A more detailed examination of the 1987 Report is found later in this

section together with an examination of a more recent review of the police aide

scheme conducted by the Police Department.

Concerns of the Aboriginal Communities

Although some Aboriginal people thought the original concept of Aboriginal

police aides was good it was clear that there was a high level of dissatisfaction

with the way the police aide scheme operated throughout the State. Maureen

Kelly, in her evidence in the Njanji case, highlighted many of the concerns held

by Aboriginal people, particularly in relation to the aides' policing role.

It was supposed to be a liaison between the Aboriginal people and the police but somewhere along the line it got lost, and Aboriginal people see police aides as glorified black trackers or policemen, because he's got that same thing on, he wears the hat, he hangs

about with the white policeman, he drives around in that car with that white policeman and he's a policeman, and they don't trust them because they know that that same bloke is going to arrest them, the same as that white policeman and they don't relate to them (RCIADIC W8:278).

One Aboriginal witness called the police aide system 'a joke' and said that police

aides were 'cheap labour for the police force' (RCIADIC W21:316-317). Police

aides were often referred to as 'Jackies' or 'black trackers'. Aboriginal people

were well aware that police aides were lacking in authority and were only

empowered to arrest Aboriginal people, even for example, in a domestic dispute

between an Aboriginal person and a non-Aboriginal person. This was perceived

to be unfair and discriminatory. Police aides did not have the trust of the

community and a few were accused of being 'a bit heavy' or of handling

Aboriginal people roughly. It was also pointed out that police aides wearing

611

uniforms was not a good thing as it represented white authority and that

Aboriginal people could not relate to that.

Other concerns expressed by Aboriginal people related to the problems aides had

in working in the Aboriginal community. Many police aides are posted to police

stations outside of their home region. People in areas where an Aboriginal

language was the first language of most of the population were critical of police

aides' inability to speak the local language. Aides were also criticised because

they did not understand traditional Aboriginal law or culture. It is interesting to

note that in Geraldton, where this particular comment was made, the Aboriginal

police aides stationed there said that there were no tribal people in Gerald ton and

there was no Aboriginal law or ceremonies for youths (RCIADIC W21 ,90-91 ).

However, I also heard evidence that traditionally oriented people from areas such

as Meekatharra and Wiluna frequently visited Geraldton, residing there for

periods with friends or relations.

Aboriginal people said that it would be better if police aides came from the local

area rather than from out of town. It was a common criticism that aides did not

mix with the local Aboriginal population and they did not relate to Aboriginals on

the same level. However in some communities Aboriginal people presented the

view that local people do not want to become police aides because they would be

'putting their own people in'.

In addition to reluctance in exercising authority over their own people, potential

difficulties arising out of avoidance and obligation relationships were discussed.

It was noted by the officers in charge in Wiluna and Halls Creek that attempts had

been made to recruit local police aides but without success. In Halls Creek they

were unable to appoint a local person because all the applicants had criminal

records (RCIADIC W29:87). Another issue raised was that the Aboriginal

community were not involved in the selection process and there were problems

with police aides, not being accountable to the local community.

612

Changes that were suggested by various Aboriginal people included the

following:

Aboriginal Police Aides should be carrying out duties which involved

liaison with the community

Aboriginal Police Aides should provide communication between

Aboriginals and the police

Aboriginal police aides should provide welfare assistance in the lockup

including notifying the family of the detainee

Aboriginal Police Aides should explain people's rights to Aboriginals

They should act as interpreters, especially at the police station.

It was also suggested that Police Aides should not be employed by the Police

Department but should be operated by another agency. Another suggestion was

that they should be civilians with their primary function being interpreting. Other

Aboriginal witnesses thought that it would be better to get rid of Police Aides

altogether and train the present ones to be police officers.

Generally the weight of the evidence was that Aboriginal Police Aides should

mainly perform a liaison role between Aboriginal people and the police as well as

providing some welfare assistance to detainees at the lockup and an educative role

in relation to explaining people's rights. It was felt that policing functions should

be very restricted if not completely abolished.

Concerns of Police Aides

Police aides raised similar concerns in their evidence before me as they did during

the Police Aides Review (1987) and the Review of Police Practices conducted by

the Equal Opportunity Commission (1990). The major concern was that

although they were termed 'police aides' they were in reality only second class

613

police officers doing similar, if not the same, work as ordinary police officers but

without the same rewards.

There was concern over the career structure which was very limited with a senior

Police Aide with over ten years experience being junior in rank to the most junior

police constable and earning a little more than junior constables. Several ex

police aides who each had eight-ten years experience and who had reached the

level of senior police aide resigned over the issue of lack of career structure

(RCIADIC Wl2;W4).

Police Aides also felt there was a need for a duty statement setting out their role

and duties. This was not only for their benefit but to assist the officers in charge

of police stations and other police officers in understanding the role of the police

aides. A number of aides expressed frustration at the amount of variation in

duties they were assigned, according to who was officer in charge of the station.

Most Police Aides said that in practice their primary role was one of law

enforcement with liaison work taking a secondary role. One ex Police Aide said

he 'felt used' because he was obliged to carry out policing duties rather than

liaison duties (RCIADIC W21 :539). The current Police Aides who gave

evidence in Gerald ton cases said that although they did a lot of enforcement work

in relation to minor offences (RCIADIC W21:85) they also did a considerable

amount ofliaison work (RCIADIC W21 :85). An ex Police Aide told me how he

had arguments with the Police Department over the importance of the liaison role.

He said he did not feel there was enough time for the liaison and communication

part of being a Police Aide although he said he always made sure he found time

for it (RCIADIC Wl2:45-47).

Police Aides were also very conscious of their lack of authority, especially in

relation to their powers of arrest, i.e. having powers of arrest in relation to

Aboriginal people but not for non-Aboriginal people.

614

Another issue that arose was the lack of training. Some Police Aides received no

training at all prior to commencing their duties. However the evidence of the

Police Department suggests that police aides were able to attend a two-week in­

service course at Pundelmurra College at Port Hedland from the inception of the

scheme. The length of the course has gradually increased but as the Equal

Opportunities Commission Report notes, metropolitan police aides currently

receive more training than country police aides and the training for both is

considerably less than that received by police recruits. Police Aides complained

that they received little or no training in relation to the liaison aspect of their job.

Another major concern expressed by Police Aides, particularly those who have

since resigned, was the attitude of the police officers with whom they had to

work. I have already discussed the evidence I received in Kalgoorlie about the

use of racist language and racism generally. I was also informed about

difficulties experienced by police aides working with officers with little or no

training in the cultural differences between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals. One

former Police Aide expressed it in this way:

It would cause all sorts of problems. They'd do things and not realise where they were, that the situations could get out of hand if they said the wrong thing at the wrong time . If they just stopped and listened to people of some experience then /' m sure a lot of the situations wouldn't have arisen. They would have just waited a couple of minutes or whatever just to let people more experienced to

go in ahead of them .

.. . The Police Aides were there to help them. A lot of them wouldn't take their advice. A lot were very stubborn in their ways (RCIADIC W4:188-9).

He went on to say that:

It could be either a young constable without proper training or a more senior person who hadn't spent enough time in country towns (RCIADIC W4:189).

When asked about the kinds of mistakes that were made by inexperienced

officers, he said:

615

Just their attitude, the way they spoke , the way they addressed people, the way they went about their work (RCIADIC W4: 190).

Another ex police aide spoke of the difficulties in working with police constables:

If they want to make a Police Aide, there should be a separate body. You can' t have policemen and police aides together. . .. You can't work together. You don't know whether you are going to say something to the bloke- if its right or wrong (RCIADIC W18:125).

Obviously some police officers are quite happy to take the advice of police aides

but the impression I gained from the police aides was that this was the exception

rather than the rule.

Reviews ofthe Police Aide Scheme 1987-1989

I have mentioned above how the Police Aide Review (1987) by the Special

Government Committee on Aboriginal/Police and Community Relations came

about. More recently, as the result of a directive from the Commissioner of

Police, a further review of the Police Aide Scheme was carried out by a Working

Party formed by the Commander of the Inspectorate. Its report was dated

19 October 1989.

Before examining the two Reports and the difference in their approaches and

conclusions, it is interesting to note the composition of the committee responsible

for the 1987 Report and the working party responsible for the 1989 Report and

their methods of consultation with the Aboriginal community, Aboriginal police

aides, police officers and other organisations and individuals.

The Committee of Review responsible for the 1987 review comprised a police

superintendent, a member of the Aboriginal Legal Service, a member of the

Aboriginal Advisory Council and a project officer and coordinator, who were

both employed on a consultancy basis for the review. By way of contrast the

working party responsible for the 1989 review was comprised of nine

616

commissioned police officers (the Commander of the Inspectorate, three Chief

Superintendents, one Superintendent, four Inspectors) and one other person,

apparently a civilian.

The 1987 Review sets out the thirty-four locations where thirty-eight meetings

were held, the fact that submissions were invited from all interested parties, with

newspaper advertisements and specific requests to OICs, police aides and other

government authorities. The Report also appended a list of persons and bodies

from whom submissions were received (seven individuals, six Government

Departments and Agencies, five police officers, the Police Union, nine

Aboriginal communities and organisations and eight Police Aides). The Report

gives a clear indication of the consultation process involved.

By way of contrast the 1989 Review sought to update the information in the 1987

Review with additional information about the schemes operating in other States.

The Report stated that research conducted was 'based upon the most recent

information available' without giving the sources of that research. At the

conclusion of the 1989 Review the following comments are made about the

consultation process:

Prior to this review, the office of the Commander of the Inspectorate had conducted a great deal of research by way of direct contact and consultation with Aboriginal Police Aides. This was expanded upon during the course of the review where it was agreed by all concerned and consulted that there should be a change to the present Aboriginal Police Aides Scheme.

Members of the Working Party, were able to discuss the majority of the foregoing recommendations with senior and junior Aboriginal Police Aides from both the North of the country and the Metropolitan Area. Also consulted were Aboriginal Police Officers

(one of whom was a recent graduate/rom the Academy) andformer Aboriginal Police Aides. These too endorsed the recommendations.

It is interesting to note that during a confidential session held by Commissioner

Dodson with a number of Aboriginal police aides in Perth (30 June 1990) the

following remarks were made by a serving police aide:

617

We have had several reports: one was called Law Enforcement or Liaison which was given by the special government committee on Aboriginal police relations, and that was in 1987, and the department's response to that was they implemented certain things and then decided to come up with a review of their own which ended up with a 30 point recommendation, and that was completed in August 1989, and we were given it to us [sic] in July this year for us to have a look at and pass comments on it, although in the review it says that we had input into it and that we were consulted in regards to certain recommendations and these consultants were actually after the fact that the report had been completed.

There was no input by the actual police union; no input by ourselves or the Aboriginal aides in the country which actually the majority of the scheme are in the country. I have taken it upon myself to issue that review to certain members in the country so they are aware of what is going on -because it is their job, they want to know what is

going - and I felt that it was my undertaking to let them know as well.

A lot of them are surprised that there [sic ]weren't even involved or consulted. A lot of us are surprised that we weren't involved or consulted regarding a lot of these recommendations which appear to me, myself, have no real design in them - they are not going to actually help or work for Aboriginal people. They believe us to be liaison officers and, yet again, they prefer us to be police officers. It seems to be whatever the department want at the time that they use

us in that role RCIADIC, Dodson 30.6.90:464).

The earlier Law Enforcement or Liaison Report is a comprehensive document

(195 pages) which is well researched and fairly presents the major issues of

concern or conflict which were raised during the review.

The issues which the Report addresses are the role and duties of police aides,

recruitment and selection procedures, accountability, an appropriate name,

training and staff development, pay and conditions of service, women aides,

metropolitan aides, powers of aides and the conclusion and summary of

recommendations. The Report concluded that there was widespread

dissatisfaction with many aspects of the police aide scheme. It said that a large

majority of respondents believed that the aims of the scheme were not being

translated into practice and that instead of 'building bridges between Aboriginals

and the police' they are worlcing as 'de facto police officers'. They identified that

618

the central issue was whether the primary role of police aides should be one of

liaison or law enforcement. They concluded that the overwhelming view was

that aides should operate as liaison workers and that there was a need to make the

role of aides in theory consistent with their role" in practice.

The recommendations then set out a practical means of bringing about the

changes that the review identified as necessary to give effect to the liaison role of

police aides taking into account the major areas of concerns raised during the

review. The 1987 Review makes forty recommendations but the major

recommendations include a one-off package of transfer and training be offered to

any currently serving police aides wishing to become police officers and that the

position of Aboriginal liaison workers be established. Police aides who did not

wish to take advantage of the one-off transfer package were to be given the

choice of applying for a new Aboriginal liaison worker position, accepting a

severance package or be redeployed to another government department.

As a result of the review very little changed. As mentioned above the Report was

never publicly released by the Government. Some of the recommendations were

adopted but the major concerns relating to conflicts in the role and duties of

Police Aides, accountability, the selection process, the career structure, pay and

conditions of service, training, powers of police aides have still not been

adequately addressed or implemented. For the last two and a half years, and as

recently as 30 July 1990, Aboriginal communities and Police Aides were still

voicing the same concerns about the current Police Aide scheme.

The 1989 Review by the Police Department (19 pages) provides background to

the review, concluding comments of the chairman of the review and the

recommendations accompanied by support comments together with seven

anne xu res.

I consider that the 1989 Review does not adequately address the fundamental

issue which was discussed in the 1987 Review and which was the major concern

619

raised in relation to police aides during my inquiries, i.e. is their role one oflaw

enforcement or liaison?

Despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Police Department

Review does not suppon the removal of the law enforcement role in favour of the

liaison role, nor does it acknowledge the major conflict that exists for both the

Aboriginal community and police aides in performing both roles. The 1989

Review presents the following discussion on the issue:

However, the Working Party does not agree that the current concept should be changed by removing the law enforcement point of the concept, in favour of liaison only and with operations being more aligned to that of a Welfare Worker. A better alternative is to ensure · that a more even balance of duties are being performed.

Experience before and since 1975, has very well demonstrated that to be effective in preventing a break-down of law and order among some Aboriginal communities and groups, or in the dealing with some individuals, it was absolutely necessary for Aboriginal Police Aides to be readily available for on the spot liaison.

The only effective way that the latter can be best performed was by the current concept of police officers and Aboriginal Police Aides working side by side and in many cases, pairs or as a combined team. A proven way of establishing trust, co-operation and preventing police/aboriginal confrontations.

In addition, this method of operation has resulted in enormous benefits, by way of providing an excellent avenue of training for many police officers in dealing with aboriginals. Conversely the Aboriginal Police Aides have received major training benefits themselves, which includes actual training in the field in general policing and its problems, something that is unique to the concept

and which is not available through any other system.

It has also been clearly identified that in order to effectively fulfil their unique role, it is necessary for the Aboriginal Police Aides to have police powers .

The role not only calls for a person to have some heir [sic] of authority, but also to be able to enforce the law in order to quickly defuse a given situation.

The Working Party also recognised those situations that are now frequently arising on the roads and away from homes and communities, brought about the mobility of many aboriginals of

620

today. In order to meet the need, a greater demand has been made for both the policing and liaison actively to be mobile together.

The major concern of the Police Department appears to be the maintenance or

imposition of 'law and order' on Aboriginal communities rather than

improvement of liaison with Aboriginal people and the bettennent of

AboriginaVpolice relations. The latter concerns are not even mentioned and the

Aboriginal voice appears to have been completely ignored.

The 1989 Review contains recommendations which would enhance the policing

roles of police aides including increasing powers of police aides (to be called

Aboriginal Auxiliary Constables), issuing them with the full police uniform and

accessories, that they carry handcuffs and long batons, and that they receive the

same fireann training as police officers. However the 1989 Review has also

recommended that duty rosters provide Aboriginal Auxiliary Constables with a

greater opportunity to perfonn liaison duties.

Many recommendations address some of the more peripheral issues that were

raised during the 1987 Review and during my inquiries. These include:

that the present rank structure be maintained but with additional pay

increments

• that Aboriginal police aide courses have a greater liaison content

• that Aboriginal police aides be permitted to return to their home region

that Aboriginal police aides who are orientated to more liaison type work

be attached to community policing sections in appropriate regions

that duty statements be directed to all members of the Force

increase police aides' access to police vehicles

621

that positive encouragement be given to police aides to achieve entry into

the police force as police officers

that a special recruit training course be introduced at the Academy for

Aboriginal police recruits

that the same consideration be given to Aboriginal police officers in

enabling them to return to their home region following training.

The last three recommendations relating to recruitment of Aboriginal police

officers will be examined in more detail later in this section.

It is my view that although addressing some of the concerns of the Aboriginal

community and police aides about the current police aide scheme, the changes

recommended by the 1989 Police Department Review do not adequately address

the major concerns relating to the scheme as discussed above. I regard the

improvement of the liaison role of police aides as the crucial issue and support the

recommendations of the 1987 Review of the Police Aide Scheme.

I also note that the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity was of the same view

and made the following recommendation in the Review of Police Practices:

Recommendation 12 The Commissioner for Equal Opportunity should urge the Government to adopt the recommendations of the 1986 review of the Police Aides Scheme, with a view to improving the capacity of Police Aides to liaise effectively between Aboriginal people and police.

Aboriginal Police Officers

There are currently twenty-three Aboriginal police officers who are members of

the Western Australian Police Force. As mentioned above, eight police aides

have left the Police Aide Scheme to become police officers. The total police

strength is 3751 (as at 30 June 1990).

622

The Police Department has expressed a policy of giving positive encouragement

to Aboriginal people to join the Police force. Although the Police Department

does not agree with lowering the academic level to decrease the difficulties of

some Aboriginal people meeting recruit entry requirements, the 1989 Police Aide

Review has suggested that 'a special knowledge of aboriginal problems could be

given greater weight when considering factors overall' (Recommendation 9,

pp.3-4).

This Review has recommended that future selection of police aides (Aboriginal

Auxiliary Constables) recruits be, where possible, 'from those persons most

likely to achieve entry into the Force as a Police Officer and every encouragement

be given them to do so consistent with an aim to increase the number of

Aboriginal Police Officers serving within the Force' (Recommendation 8, p.3).

It has also been suggested that the experience of a Police Aide be taken into

consideration during the selection of Police Recruits.

The Review also said that more could be done to assist Aboriginal Auxiliary

Police improve their educational standards and suggested obtaining the assistance

of school teachers to conduct coaching courses, particularly for Aboriginal

Auxiliaries in country areas.

The Review also recommended that a special Recruit Training Course for

Aboriginal police recruits be introduced at the Academy (Recommendation 9,

p.3). The reason for this being the perceived difficulties of some newly qualified

Aboriginal police in a new environment which placed them at a disadvantage. As

noted above the Review has suggested that Aboriginal police officers as well as

Aboriginal auxiliary police (police aides) be permitted to return to serve in the

region from which they were recruited. The working party has recognised that

this would remove a significant barrier which currently deters a number of police

aides and potential recruits from joining the police force as police officers (see

Annexure "E", 1989 Review).

623

In December 1988, the Police Department introduced a pilot scheme known as

the Aboriginal Police Cadet scheme. The scheme commenced with 20 Aboriginal

cadets being appointed and it was anticipated that these would eventually become

police constables (see submission of Commissioner of Police and the Western

Australian Police Department to the Royal Commission, May 1990 at p.21 ).

There are now only 14 of those cadets still employed by the Police Department

(Response of Commissioner of Police W.A. to specific questions raised by

Royal Commission, p.47).

Commissioner of Police, Mr Bull, told the Royal Commission that some of the

cadets from country areas who were brought to the metropolitan area had

difficulty coping because they found it hard to adjust. He said that the Police

Department is looking at posting them back to their country towns after an initial

period in the city (Bull 31.7.90:657).

Commissioner Bull explained the concept of the police cadet scheme:

With the police cadet system the idea is there that generally they come in at 16, 17 years of age. lf there is any difficulty so far as education standards we take it upon ourselves to increase the standard so that they can enter the academy on an equal footing with others.

The initiatives are indicative of positive measures being taken to increase the

number of Aboriginal people in the police force. It has been suggested that the

Aboriginal cadet scheme should be extended and the Police Department has

indicated its support for that (Response of Commissioner of Police to specific

questions raised by the RCIADIC, p.48).

The Aboriginal Issues Unit of the Royal Commission in Western Australia have

advised me of concerns in the Aboriginal community that there are too few fully­

fledged Aboriginal police officers with the Police Department and have expressed

support for the employment of a greater number of Aboriginal people as police

officers. (Final Report of A.I.U. Western Australia September 1990, p.12) .

624

In the previous section dealing with police aides, I raised the difficulty for

Aboriginals working in a policing role in their own areas with respect to their

cultural affiliations and the problems that may arise, e.g. avoidance and

obligation relationships. It is recognised that the same problems could arise for

Aboriginal police officers. In addition, another problem that has been raised with

the Royal Commission is that of recruiting Aboriginal people to work in an

organisation such as the Police Force which is representative of the non­

Aboriginal authoritarian structures which have been imposed upon Aboriginal

people since 1788.

This difficulty is inherent in the recruitment of Aboriginal police and prison

officers. The latter will be dealt with in the section of the Report which examines

reducing the likelihood of death in prisons.

Recruitment and Placement of Officers

In the Interim Report, Commissioner Muirhead recommended that screening

procedures be implemented to ensure that potential officers who would have

contact with Aboriginal people were not recruited if they held racist views. He

also recommended that currently serving officers should not be retained if those

racist views prevailed (Recommendation 27).

The Police Department was asked what it had done to implement this

recommendation. The Department responded that the recommendation was

difficult to address as screening procedures would involve complex

psychological assessments initially and on an on-going basis. Despite this, the

Department said:

Current recruitment procedures which include interviews apply some safeguards against the recruitment of persons holding prejudices towards Aboriginals and those of ethnic origin (Response of Commissioner of Police to specificquestions raised by the

RCIADIC, p.45).

625

When asked to elaborate upon this response, the Police Department provided this

additional infonnation:

Applicants to join the Police Force are subjected to a background and integrity check. Interview panels can go beyond the structured interview questions if any prejudices are revealed and the Chairman of the panel may also make specific comments if further questions

reveal any intolerance to any race of people (Responses of the Police Department whichthe RCIADIC would like clarified, Q.12.10)

The Aboriginal Issues Unit presented the following perceptions of Aboriginal

people about police staffing practices:

... It was felt that management decisions within the police force in relation to staffing practices did not generally reflect the expressed concerns of the Aboriginal community or serve the interests of Aboriginal people.

There was concern that 'good cops' were often moved away from areas where they had established a close relationship with the local Aboriginal community; thatfemale officers and aides were often inappropriately located; and that police numbers were greater in

areas with large Aboriginal populations regardless of the size of the white population (Final Report of the Aboriginal Issues Unit W.A. September 1990 at page 12).

The Aboriginal Issues Unit Report also expressed concerns that police officers

identified as having a problematic relationship with the Aboriginal population

who were moved because oflocal Aboriginal pressure, were simply relocated to

another area with a significant Aboriginal population (AIU Report, p.l2).

The Police Department states that it has recognised the need that officers posted to

communities with large Aboriginal populations have specialised policing skills.

When asked about selection of police officers for these areas and the method

whereby the Department ensures that officers have appropriate training and skills,

the Department responded as follows:

(T)his requirement forms part of the description of duties in these areas. It is a requirement that any member seeking a transfer as the Officer in Charge, demonstrate previous experience in these areas.

626

The specific requirements of each position are considered before a member is transferred (Response of Commissioner of Police to specific questions raised by the RCIADIC, page 48).

The experience and ability of police officers, particular the officers in charge of

police stations, to work with Aboriginal people was an issue in a number of the

cases into which I inquired. It appeared to me that in previous years an officer

who, for example, might have served a number of years in the communications

branch or scientific branch, a branch not related to normal station duties, would

then be transferred to the position of officer in charge of a station like Kalgoorlie

or Port Hedland. The officer may not have had any training in station

management and no experience in working with Aboriginal people.

Commissioner Bull was questioned about this issue and said:

In the past, yes, but not for many years now. Certainly, as I've indicated, my policy has been, particularly where they would be stations that we'd regard as the more difficult, whether it be through the predominance of Aboriginals or whether it be a difficult mining town situation where the officer must have the ability to,

say, handle union matters, the sensitivity of union matters, then we do select officers and we do not take them when they have not had the experience.

It has occurred before. A classic example was Roebourne with the death of John Pat where an officer in charge of the police station had come from the scientific bureau. That was before my time. I'm not saying that would've been any different but I'm saying that was before my time. But certainly as I have been commissioner I have

required that for those stations that officers do have a proven ability in that type of work elsewhere at a subordinate rank (Bull 31.7.90:593).

He also said:

If an officer is going to serve in an area predominantly Aboriginal then we will certainly look for the proven ability of that officer, particularly the officer in charge, who has served in areas where there are predominantly Aboriginals previously and has shown that

they have the ability to cope with such a situation ( B u 11 31.7 .90:592-3).

627

However Commissioner Bull also pointed out that sometimes there were not

enough experienced officers to fill all the positions in areas with significant

Aboriginal populations so it was inevitable that young or inexperienced officers

would sometimes be posted to these areas (Bull31.7.90:595).

Although Commissioner Bull recognised this, he was reluctant to accept the

proposition that officers should receive refresher training in Aboriginal issues and

the special needs of policing in Aboriginal communities, prior to posting to an

area with a significant Aboriginal population. The situation remains that a

constable who had completed his initial training four or five years before, who

had since served at a city station may be transferred to the country with

inadequate experience or training.

Commissioner Bull explained the situation in this way:

That is correct, that could occur. As a constable he could go to an area predominantly Aboriginal or where there are union situations. It just is not possible with the movement of officers throughout this state to provide that sort of training. There are in-service course that are conducted but not prior to a posting. They do in-service course which include what you are speaking of They do do refresher

courses in regard to matters but there's only a certain amount of time that you can spend on training.

We have academy that's bursting at the seams, totally. We cannot­ having difficulty in coping with training as it is, with the types of training- you know, we must do resuscitation training, riot training, we have to do resuscitation training; we do so many types of training for the officers that this all takes time. These officers have to be withdrawn from the field and that, in turn, is very difficult and of course very costly, particularly when you are talking about the country (Bull31.7.90:594).

I have already discussed the need to improve the training of serving police

officers in relation to Aboriginal affairs in section 5.2.8 of the Report and I

believe that the insufficient numbers of experienced officers provides support for

my conclusions in this regard.

628

Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committees

Since the summit meeting on Aboriginal/Police Relations in 1984, the Special

Government Committee (SGC) on AboriginalPolice and Community Relations

has been involved in developing local Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committees.

The idea of the committees is to improve Aboriginal/police relations at a local

level by providing a structure for communication between the Aboriginal

community and the police.

The SGC was initially hampered in establishing the committees because of lack

of resources.

There are also a number of liaison committees which have been established at a

local level on an informal basis (see Submission to the Royal Commission by

SGC Aprill989 pp.8-9).

The main benefit in establishing these committees is the provision of a structure

whereby there can be an ongoing working relationship between the Aboriginal

community and police. If the committees become entrenched then they should

continue without being dependent on the goodwill of particular members of the

Aboriginal community or the police force. This is important in view of the

turnover of staff in country police stations.

The establishment of Aboriginal Police Liaison Committees was supported in the

Recommendations of the Report of the Interim Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in

Custody (Vincent Report, Recommendation 27).

Commissioner Dodson has discussed the Committees in his Report and the

comments I make below arise out of the evidence I received during my inquiries.

The Liaison Committees appear to have had variable success in different towns.

To a large extent the success of each committee is dependent upon the degree of

629

commitment of those involved, particularly the police, to the improvement of

Aboriginal/police relations in their town or area.

In Kalgoorlie the OIC of the police station is not involved in the local liaison

committee. Sgt Denholm told the Royal Commission that 'that is all done at a

regional level' (RCIADIC Wl8:283). The same officer did not have any contact

with the Aboriginal community leaders in Kalgoorlie 'unfortunately' (RCIADIC

W18:285).

One Aboriginal member of the liaison committee in Kalgoorlie said that he often

sorted out complaints with the regional officer before it even got to the meeting.

He gave the impression that the regional officer was very approachable

(RCIADIC W18:319). However in commenting on the current state of

Aboriginal/police relations he said that they were 'The same as a few years ago'

(RCIADIC W18 :323). Champion noted that there were no representatives from

the fringe dwelling community on the committee although he had tried to

encourage a couple to participate. He said:

I think they're afraid to get in there and sit down and talk with the leading police officers (RCIADIC W18:323).

Murray Stubbs, the ALS field officer in Kalgoorlie, is also a member of the

liaison committee. He also was of the view that nothing had really changed in

regard to Aboriginal/police relations over the last six years (RCIADIC W18:330).

He gave the impression that little was being achieved through the efforts of the

committee .

.. . really its at a stage where we' re just talking about the same things over and over and nothing is being done (RCIADIC W18:331).

He was somewhat sceptical of the view of the committee that individual

complaints about the police were not to be talked about and that problems had to

be discussed generally rather than on an individual basis (RCIADIC W18:332).

630

In Geraldton the Aboriginal/Police Liaison Committee meets once a month. An

Aboriginal member of the committee felt that the committee had a positive effect

on Aboriginals, the police and the general community in Geraldton. He said that

the main aim of the committee was to provide ari opportunity to discuss problems

that arise in the community and raise them with the police in order to try and

achieve a solution (RCIADIC W21 :504). He said that the meetings were open to

any member of the community. The regional officer of Geraldton,

Superintendent Davies, agreed that the committee provided a forum for anyone to

present difficulties they may have had or complaints in a particular area

(RCIADIC W21 :531). Superintendent Davies gave an example of the sort of

action that the committee may take on an issue:

In February Last year there was a lot of publicity because we had a heavy crime rate going on. There was a serious assault on a person in the main street. There was talk of them forming vigilantes here. The newspaper article made it appear as though every second Aboriginal was a criminal. Th ere was a Lot of resentment to that

article, so this committee met pretty promptly and wrote a Letter off to the newspaper objecting to the style of reporting. That sort of thing will bring the committee together pretty quickly. (RCIADIC W21:531)

By way of contrast, Arthur Gordon (Sandy) Davies had a different view on the

ability of the liaison committee to improve Aboriginal/police relations.

DAVIES: I think we are choking on committees. We are choking on committees and we are choking on experts. You go to meetings and everybody has got a theory. You have all the different experts, be it drug and alcohol, be it prisons. Everybody has a theory. You have experts; you have committees. I couldn't count on both my hands the number of committees that are set up in this town to do with Aboriginal people. It is incredible. Every time there is an

eruption between police and the Aboriginal people in community, another committee seems to get formed and nothmg ever comes of it.

COMMISSIONER : You mean a joint committee of Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals?

DAVIES: Well, different groups set up committees. The police set up committees. The city council called public meetings over at this building over here, the opera or it is : are all

sorts of discussions held, but that ts all u ts . There ts nothmg ever

631

positive coming out of it. If you want to improve relations in this town, it gets back to- you have to have something to offer to the young Aboriginal people. Now, there is nothing in the town at this point in time. There is nothing at all. I mean, we need to face up to

that. What we need is some sort of facility where we can set up training programmes, where we can set up apprenticeship programmes ..

A more positive view of the value of an Aboriginal Liaison Committee was

expressed by Vanessa Read, a committee member in Broome. This committee

now meets once a month after being revived in 198 8. The member said that the

committee was re-established after receiving a firm commitment from the police

that they would be supportive of the group. (RCIADIC Wl2:298).

On discussing the current level of co-operation between the police and other

community groups in Broome, Read said:

There has been a tremendous amount of work ... put in to try and improve police and community relations and co-operation between agencies. I think the police generally have a more sympathetic approach than when I first came to town but I think there is still

room for a lot more liaison and people meeting on a more equal stance (RCIADIC W12:298).

At the time of inquiries in Carnarvon, Port Hedland, Wiluna and Halls Creek,

there had been no formal liaison committees established. One Aboriginal witness

in Carnarvon thought it would be a good idea. (Mitchell in Dooler, T334)

whereas one Aboriginal witness in Port Hedland did not think it necessary saying

'If Aboriginal people have anything to say to the police, they say it to them'

(RCIADIC W8:267).

In Wiluna there was no liaison committee although the OIC of the police station

would attend meetings of the Nganganawili community if he was invited

(RCIADIC W16}.

In Halls Creek an Aboriginal witness said he was not aware of meetings between

the police, police aides and the community but he thought that they could help

632

(RCIADIC W29:26). The OIC at the Halls Creek police station said he had tried

to get police aides to attend specific meetings but without success (RCIADIC

W29:85-86).

Both the Royal Commission Interim Report (Muirhead 1988) and the recent

Equal Opportunity Commission 'Review of Police Practices' expressed the view

that local Aboriginal/police relations committees had the potential to improve

AboriginaVpolice relations.

The Final Report of the Aboriginal Issues Unit W.A. (1990) also was supportive

of the establishment oflocalliaison comminees. It suggested:

Local police-Aboriginal committees should be formed in all regions where requested by Aboriginal people. This would foster constructive communication and improved relations.

It is important to note that the AIU has only suggested the establishment of

comminees in areas where the Aboriginal people have requested them thus

Aboriginal people would provide the initiative rather than having the comminees

imposed upon them .

5.3 PREVENTION OF DEATH IN PRISON CUSTODY

5.3.1 PHILOSOPHY AND DESIGN OF PRISONS

... there is a huge and disproportionate number ofprisoners in the Western Australian Prison System who are Aboriginal. This matter is a cause for concern at a variety of levels; not the least should be the management and welfare of that large grouping, whose culture is totally different from those who ... devised and brought into being the prison system (Counsel for the family of the deceased, Paul Farmer, at page 55 of his Final Submission to the Commission in its inquiry into the death of Mr Farmer, March 1989).

633

.. . I think we are all in Corrective Services aware that Aboriginal prisoners do have distinct needs and what we're endeavouring to do is .. . wherever possible make provision for addressing Aboriginal needs - double cells, triple cells, Aboriginal staff, specifically Aboriginal programmes and of course, more importantly, pushing

the whole diversionary approach on the basis that prisons are not good places for anybody but they are particularly bad places for Aboriginal people (Dr D.A. McCotter, Acting Director Prison Operations, Western Australian Department of Corrective Services, in evidence before the Royal Commission at Geraldton, April

1990).

In the years immediately following European colonisation of Western Australia,

white authorities considered it necessary to establish a special prison for 'native

offenders'. The site chosen was Rottnest Island. Rottnest held prisoners from

1838 until 1932, in its final years holding only European prisoners, having been

closed as a 'native prison' in 1903.

Although Aboriginal prisoners were first placed on Rottnest in August 1838, the

Act which formally constituted the island a prison was not passed until 1841.

The reasons for the establishment of the prison are set out in the preamble to the

Act. Rottnest was intended to provide Aboriginal prisoners with a greater degree

of personal liberty than was possible in mainland prisons. It is interesting to note

the similarity between the following observation contained in the preamble to the

1841 Act and the comments of Dr McCotter made some 150 years later and cited

above. The preamble states that:

' ... close confinement is prejudicial to their [Aboriginals] health, as being so uncongenial with their ordinary habits.'

Currently, there are fourteen prisons throughout the State of Western Australia.

There is today no 'special' prison for Aboriginals. The locations of the prisons

are as follows :

Albany

Broome

Bun bury

Albany Regional Prison

Broome Regional Prison

Bunbury Regional Prison

634

Geraldton

Kalgoorlie/Boulder

Mount Barlcer

Perth Area

Roeboume

Wyndham

Greenough Regional Prison

Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison

Pardelup Prison Fann

Bandytip Women's Prison Canning Vale Prison C.W. Campbell Remand Centre Fremantle Prison Kamer Prison Fann

Wooroloo Prison Fann

Roeboume Regional Prison

Wyndham Regional Prison

A new maximum security prison is under construction at Casuarina south of

Perth and is due for completion in 1991. Upon completion of the new prison,

Fremantle prison is to close. Such a move is long overdue, Fremantle Prison

having been condemned as being unfit for human habitation on more than one

occasion in past years. Following a riot at that prison in January 1988

Mr J. McGivern (who had retired as Deputy Director, Custodial Services in

1986) prepared a report to the Minister for Corrective Services on the causes of

the riot. His report stated that conditions in Fremantle Prison were :

.. . undoubtedly sub-standard and could best be described as early Victorian. Prisoners are required to spend approximately 14 hours per day in a small cell with a bucket for a toilet (and often with another person) .. . [They] are thus compelled to eat [there is no

dining room at the prison], sleep and defecate in one small confined space.

It is disappointing to note the announcement by the State Government in October

1990 of a new prison to be constructed in the metropolitan area (this in addition

to Casuarina Prison). It appears that the Government is anticipating that Western

Australia's lead over other states in the rate of imprisoning its population is to

continue. This Commission takes the position that all means to reduce the

numbers of people held in prison custody must continue to be explored. The

provision of further institutions only encourages that they be filled, if only to

justify the expense of construction.

635

Aboriginals in Prison in Western Australia

Western Australia has and continues to have a very high rate of imprisonment.

The extent of the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the prison

population of Western Australia has been examined in Part 4 of this Report.

Ho wever, before proceeding to set out my findings concerning the structure and

management of the prison system in Western Australia (particularly as it affects

Aboriginal people), it is worthwhile to reiterate some of the figures concerning

the ra te and extent of imprisonment of Aboriginals in Western Australia.

Although comprising 2.69% of the total population of Western Australia,

Abo riginal people have accounted for about 36-37% of the State's prison

populati on over the last three years. The Department of Corrective Services has

in fo rm ed the Commission that, on average, Aborigines comprise between

36-40% of the Western Australian prison population.

Royal Commission Research Paper No. 11 'Australian Deaths In Prisons 1980-1988' revealed that the highest number of Aboriginal deaths in prison custody

had occurred in Western Australia amounting to 37% of the national total.

Royal Commission Research Paper No. 16 'Self Inflicted Harm In Custody '

fou nd th at the majority of the reported incidents of self inflicted harm amongst

Abo rigi nal prisoners in police and prison custody occurred in Western Australia

and South Australia. Western Australia accounted for 35% of all Aboriginal

inci dents and South Australia 22%.

Com menting upon the high levels of Aboriginal imprisonment in Western

Australia in an article entitled 'Imprisonment of the Aborigine in Western

Austral ia 1957 - 1985', Roderic Broadhurst noted:

Few distinct, if fragmented, cultural groups are subject to the highest levels of incarceration experienced in Western Australia. With estimates of between one in jour and one in three Aboriginal

636

males experiencing imprisonment, many repeatedly, widespread dislocation and disruption of the social, economic and cultural organisation of Aboriginal communities has occurred. (Broadhurst, 1987:154)

This report has already referred to the Community Corrections Centres Act which

provides for diversion of fine defaulters from the prison system and came into

operation on 1 March 1989. Unfortunately, Corrective Services data for the

period 1 July 1989 - 30 June 1990 is not yet available. Those figures should

give the first indication of the success of that initiative in reducing the numbers of

persons admitted to prisons in this state.

Of the deaths that fell for inquiry by the Royal Commission in Western Australia,

thirteen (41% of the total) occurred in prison custody. Of those deaths eight

related to medical or what may be referred to as 'natural' causes, highlighting

health problems amongst the Aboriginal prisoner population. Three of the deaths

involved a struggle, or violent contact, with prison officers and two deaths were

found to have been self inflicted. Those five deaths highlighted issues of crisis

management and security within prisons and the management of disturbed or

emotionally vulnerable prisoners.

In addition to inquiring into the particular circumstances of the individual deaths,

this Commission has examined the prison system in Western Australia to

determine whether and in what manner it may ensure a humane environment that

both takes into account and provides for the cultural difference and special needs

of Aboriginals. The Commission has also examined programmes within the

prison system that may contribute to reducing the level of recidivism amongst

Aboriginal prisoners. The aim has been to ensure firstly, that all prisoners that

enter the system leave it alive and secondly to provide, as far as possible, some

reduction in the probability of prisoners, once released, re-entering the system.

An additional objective has been to identify those programmes which encourage

the maintenance and development of personal and cultural identity within prison.

637

A large number of factors affecting Aboriginal prison inmates became apparent to

the Commission in the course of its inquiries. Amongst these are:

Isolation from Country and Community

This is particularly so with prisoners from the northern and central areas of the

State who, due to their security classification, are confined in prisons in the

metropolitan area. The isolation of Aboriginal prisoners from their home country

can have a spiritual and psychological impact not readily understood or

anticipated by Europeans.

Language/Communication Difficulties Within Prison

Of the deaths investigated by the Commission, it is known that at least ten of the

deceased spoke their own traditional language. The majority of Aboriginal

people in this State speak varieties of their own traditional language, Kriol and/or

what is sometimes referred to as 'Aboriginal English'. The latter can have

significant di fferences in usage and meaning to standard English.

Communication Difficulties with Family

Many prisoners have a poor grasp of written English and this may also be the

case with their family members in the general community. Relatives of many

prisoners do not have ready access to telephones or transport.

Loss of Cultural Identity caused by Prison experience

This is of course, related to the first point mentioned above: Isolation from

country and community. Aboriginal prisoners are placed in a totally alien

environment. One which is rightfully seen as an institution devised by and

belonging to the dominant European culture. In addition, Aboriginal prisoners

are subject to the direct supervision and control of staff, the vast majority of

whom are of European descent. This may be seen as a continuation of the

638

colonialism and paternalism towards Aboriginals that has occurred in Australia

since 1788- and in Western Australia since 1829.

It has been a major direction of this Commission to recommend and emphasise

means for reducing the numbers of Aboriginal people that are taken into custody.

That notwithstanding, it is recognised that at least in the immediate future,

Aboriginal people will continue to comprise a significant proportion of persons in

prison custody in this State. An indicator of this is to be found in the studies on

recidivism amongst Aboriginal prisoners in Western Australia conducted by

Broadhurst et al. These studies were published in 1988 and 1990 and were

largely based upon statistics provided by the Western Australian Department of

Corrective Services.

The 1988 study drew upon data relating to all prisoners released for the first time

from Western Australian Prisons over the period 1 July 1975 - 30 June 1984.

The later study expanded that data to include prisoners released up to 1 July

1987. The table set out below details estimates of the probability of recidivism

for Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals together with the median (most common)

time at which failure occurred after release. It should be noted that for the

purposes of these studies, 'recidivism' was defined as reincarceration i.e. a

further term of imprisonment.

TABLE 5.2: PROBABILITY OF RECIDIVISM FOR ABORIGINALS AND NON-ABORIGINALS

PrQQabilitY. o[ M e.dia.a Fail lime. R e.c.idivism

1984 1987 1984 1987

Male Aboriginals 80% 76% 11 months 11 months

Male non Aboriginals 48% 45% 18 months 18 months

Female Aboriginals 75% 69% 16 months 16 months

Female non Aboriginals 29% 36% 23 months 20months

639

Although the later study found a slight decline in the probability of recidivism

since 1984, the figures for male and female Aboriginals remained disturbingly

high. It should be noted that the study attributed the fall in the recidivism rate to

changes in the definition of police offences and sentencing policy, rather than to

the effect of prison programmes.

The study noted that, with the exception of access to pre-release programmes,

most of the factors that contributed to a reduced chance of re-imprisonment

related to matters that fell outside the direct influence of correctional agencies.

Some of the factors that Broadhurst e.t al found contributed to higher rates of

recidivism for both Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals were as follows:

Age - younger prisoners were found to have a very much higher

probability of failure than older prisoners.

Education - lower recidivism was observed for those persons with more

schooling (although this was found not to hold true for Aboriginals).

Employment - prisoners who were employed at arrest or who found

employment immediately following their release from prison were found

to have a lower probability of failure than unemployed prisoners.

Prisoners with employment qualifications were found to do better.

Marital status - married prisoners or those divorced were found to have

better outcomes than single and separated prisoners or prisoners in de

facto relationships.

Prior imprisonment - those prisoners with a record of prior terms of

imprisonment had a higher probability of failure.

Sentence type- prisoners who were released unconditionally had higher

recidivism levels than those released on parole.

640

Escapes - prisoners who had a record of escapes had significantly higher

rates of recidivism than those who had not.

• Finance - prisoners who had more than $200 on release had both a lower

chance of failure and a greater median time before failure occurred.

Special leave - recidivism was lower for prisoners who had received

special leave such as home and compassionate leave and work release.

Other factors such as the nature of the offence and length of sentence did not

relate to lower levels of recidivism for Aboriginal prisoners.

The evidence of these studies suggests little effect of different prison regimes on

the rate of recidivism despite the varying character of prisons throughout Western

Australia from the maximum security prison at Fremantle to institutions such as

the minimum security 'open' style prison farm at Karnet. However, the

Department of Corrective services has informed the Commission that as a result

of its review of these studies it concluded that:

... from a policy viewpoint, penal policies which encourage education, provide employment, cash on release, supervised early release and support for family relationships cannot be neglected and should have priority. Prospects for lower probabilities of recidivism are never better than at first release (Answers by the Department of Corrective Services to questions from the Royal

Commission, July 1990:4)

That conclusion is supported by this Commission. However, it must not be

overlooked that the majority of Aboriginal prisoners received in Western

Australia are serving short terms of imprisonment ranging up to six months. The

1988 Broadhurst study found that of the male Aboriginal prisoner population,

49% were serving sentences of one month or less and a further 41% were

serving sentences of between one - six months. For female Aboriginal prisoners,

74% were serving sentences of under one month and and additional 23%

sentences of between one - six months.

641

It is emphasised that nobody can expect a prison system, however 'enlightened'

or 'welfare orientated', to counteract the accumulated effects of years of poverty,

substandard health and education, discrimination, alcohol or other substance

abuse and high unemployment. To this observation must be added the fact that if

the majority of Aboriginal prisoners received in Western Australia are only

serving short sentences, any potential positive effects of prison programmes must

be even further limited.

The Broadhurst studies again confirm that the focus for reducing, if not

eliminating, the risk of further deaths in custody cannot be confined simply to the

practices and policies that apply inside prisons and police lockups.

A further observation made by a number of persons who gave evidence before

the Commission was that for some Aboriginal prisoners, the material conditions

in prison were actually better than those that they experience in the general

community: shelter, regular food, better access to medical attention, abstinence

from alcohol.

Patricia Lowe, a Clinical Psychologist, was employed by the Department of

Corrective Services between 1976-1987. She worked at the Broome Regional

Prison (where the majority of prisoners are Aboriginal) between 1979-1987. In

her evidence before the Commission she stated it had been her experience that

although long sentences were unpopular, short sentences of three-six months

imprisonment were often welcomed by some Aboriginal prisoners as time out

from the rough and tumble of a fringe dwelling existence. Some prisoners were

candid about this and admitted that they appreciated the good food, the peace and

quiet of a more orderly existence, the TV, cards and the opportunity to spend

time with friends (RCIADIC, W12:224,228).

Far from being seen as supportive of any argument that conditions in prison are

too lenient and resemble those of a 'holiday camp', such a situation must be seen

642

as an indictment of any society which allows sections of its population to live in

conditions where (at least for their physical and material well-being) it may be

said that it is 'better' that they be deprived of their liberty within a prison.

Security -v- Welfare

All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (United Nations)

Article 10.1 . Ratified by Australia on 13 August 1980.

The management and routine of a person committed to prison should be just and humane and in keeping with prevailing community standards. Although prisons are separated from the community they are nonetheless still part of the community. A prisoner continues to be responsible as a member of the community

but the person's liberty to move freely within the community is removed. (Western Australian Department of Corrective Services, Annual Report 1988-89)

The continued use of imprisonment in Australia as a social sanction (at least in the

foreseeable future) is recognised by this Commission. Whilst this is the case, it

also commonplace to observe that our society is undecided and divided about

what objects can and should be achieved by a penal system. A sentence of

imprisonment imposed by the judiciary may have one or more of the purposes of

deterrence, protection of the community. incapacitation, retribution and possibly

the rehabilitation of the offender.

Society's interest in and demand for the secure custody of those persons

sentenced to imprisonment is a matter often discussed in the contemporary medi a

in this state. The Prisons Act 1981 specifies in Section 7 (1) that the Director of

the Department of Corrective Services is responsible for ' ... the management,

control and security of all prisons and the welfare of all prisoners' . In evidence

before this Commission, officers of the Department of Corrective Services of

every rank have consistently stated that the first priority of the Department is the

643

maintenance of the custody or security of prisoners. Other considerations are

necessarily secondary to this objective.

A prison system, by definition, has custody as its primary object, however, it

must be emphasised that the extent of the punishment of imprisonment is the loss

of liberty. Persons who are sentenced to imprisonment should only lose their

liberty together with those rights which either expressly or by necessary

implication result from that loss of liberty. A similar position was stated in the

Report of the Royal Commission Into New South Wales Prisons, 1978 (The

Nagle Report). We should also recognise that the vast majority of persons who

enter the prison system will eventually be returned to the general community.

Thus the product which such a system may make is a matter of general concern.

An important issue in considering means to prevent deaths in custody is a

reduction in the general level of stress experienced by prisoners (and their

custodians) in the prison environment so as to reduce the likelihood of suicide

and violent conflict occurring. Some level of stress will inevitably exist in any

institution where persons are detained against their will, no matter what regime is

followed. Consequently, a further important issue is the identification and

management of those prisoners who may be classified as disturbed or

psychologically vulnerable.

An approach to prison and prisoner management that increases and supports a

high level of personal interaction both between prisoners themselves and between

prisoners and their custodians so as to minimise the effects of isolation is

recommended. This is particularly so with Aboriginal prisoners given the high

level of close community and personal interaction that is a characteristic of

Aboriginal culture.

Also of significant importance are prisoner management programmes which

(consistent with the requirement of maintaining custody) allow for a level of self

determination and responsibility to be exercised by inmates with the intention of

644

maintaining and increasing self esteem amongst prisoners. Programmes that

enable prisoners to exercise some degree of choice and thereby retain the ability

to function as independent human beings are supported by this Royal

Commission.

A prison management model based on initiatives in many of the United States of

America jurisdictions that relies increasingly on electronic surveillance and

reduced staff/prisoner interaction is considered totally inappropriate for the

management of Aboriginal prisoners and significantly less humane than the

current approach adopted in Western Australia.

In this regard many of the current policy initiatives of the Western Australian

Department of Corrective Services are supported by this Commission: policies

such as normalisation of prisons, provision of multiple cell accommodation for

Aboriginal prisoners and aspects of the Unit Management programme.

Nonnalisation

The prison environment and routines should reflect as closely as possible those

of the community outside the prison. I would comment that if this policy is to

address the multi-cultural nature of our society then the reference to 'community'

should not be confined to a white middle class picture of community organisation

and social responsibility.

The policy of Nonnalisation also requires that prisoners who for any reason are

temporarily removed from the prison mainstream should be returned to the

normal prison routine as soon as possible. An attempt should be made to allow

for a level of self-responsibility amongst prisoners so that prison life is not so

devoid of self-direction as to be institutionalising. There should be a balance

between social interaction and privacy.

645

Unit Management

The division of the prisoner population into smaller groups and the management

of these groups on a semi-autonomous basis with greater continuity of staffing:

this policy will be discussed more fully below.

Provision of Multiple Bed Cells

In both instances where death was self inflicted the prisoners were alone, one

placed in an observation cell and the other confined to his own single cell.

Aboriginal prisoners should have the option of shared accommodation with other

Aboriginals. They should not be confined alone in cells unless they specifically

request it. The Department should take into account tribal and family grouping of

Aboriginal prisoners and as far as possible allow prisoners of the same group to

be accommodated in the same section of a prison.

It is noted that some cells at Canning Vale Prison and at the C.W. Campbell

Remand Centre have been converted to multiple accommodation for use by

Aboriginal prisoners. The plans for Casuarina Prison have been modified to

provide for twelve two person cells. The Department has advised the

Commission that, subject to funds, si'Tlilar arrangements are planned for

Bandyup, Bunbury and Albany Prisons.

Cells which can accommodate one, two, four and six prisoners have been

constructed at Eastern Goldfields, Roeboume, Greenough and Broome regional

Prisons. It is encouraging to note that some of these have been constructed in

consultation with Aboriginal groups.

Open and minimum security rated prisons (Kamet, Pardelup, Wooroloo and

Wyndham) have single hut and dormitory accommodation. They are managed on

a more communal and interactive style than other prisons and prisoners have

more ready access to other prisoners and prison officers.

646

Unit Management

The traditional role of prison officers in Western Australia has centred upon

custodial and disciplinary duties, however the last three years there has been a

dramatic change in the role definition of prison officers and indeed in the

structure and approach of prison and prisoner management as a whole.

Stemming from the Department of Corrective Services 1984 Corporate Planning

Process, the concept of prisoner management through more constructive

interaction between prisoners and staff was seen by the Department as providing

a more satisfying role for prison officers and a more effective means of managing

prisoners. A number of key strategies were developed by the Department, one of

these being 'unit management'.

Unit management has been described above as providing for the division of the

prisoner population into smaller, semi-autonomous groups or 'units'. The

concept of unit management as a programme for prison management was first

developed in Denmark over a number of years. It was initially trialled in one

prison and has gradually been extended to each of the prisons throughout that

country. Mr Erik Anderson, formerly a prison director in Denmark and the

person who developed the concept of unit management assisted the Western

Australian Department in planning the structure to be implemented in this State.

Mr Anderson gave evidence before the Commission in its sittings in Geraldton in

April1990.

To function effectively the unit management system requires that the traditional

role of prison officers be extended beyond that of custody and discipline and

encompass their attending to the welfare needs of prisoners, assisting in the

provision of constructive activities for prisoners and contributing to the provision

of developmental opportunities for prisoners.

647

The concept involves increased continuity of staff in the units such that the same

group of prison officers will be rostered to work in a unit with the same prisoners

for periods of about three months. There are obvious positive benefits in this

policy for prisoners. Particularly in the larger metropolitan prisons it will enable

the degree of impersonality of the large institutions to be reduced and hopefully

provide for a more relaxed atmosphere between prisoners and their keepers.

There is a greater opportunity for understanding (and hopefully a measure of

trust) to develop between prisoner and custodian with continuity of staffing.

Prison officers should be in a better position to identify changes in moods of

individual prisoners and to note those that may require closer observation,

counselling or other assistance.

Unit management has now been extended to all prisons in Western Australia

having been progressively introduced throughout 1987-989. Welfare officers

(including Aboriginal welfare officers) were progressively withdrawn from the

system through 1987-1988.

It is noted that problems have been experienced in the introduction of unit

management into Fremantle prison due to the physical organisation of that

decrepit Victorian structure. Smaller regional prisons however may be of such a

size as to operate as one 'unit'. In a sense it can be said that the regional prisons

have operated under a de facto unit management system for many years. The

smaller prisoner and staff numbers and the lower security rating of these prisons

allows for increased and more informal prisoner and staff interaction than at the

large metropolitan prisons such as Canning Vale and Fremantle. Also, the

reduced level of welfare resources at the regional prisons has meant that ordinary

prison officers could be more actively involved in providing for those needs of

their charges than their city counterparts.

Broome Regional Prison is an example of a prison operating as one unit. There

have been no successful suicide attempts at that prison between 1980 and 1990.

In evidence before the Commission the current Superintendent of Broome

648

Regional Prison stated that among the reasons for this was that in a smaller

prison the staff are closer to the prisoners and are more aware of behavioural

changes amongst them. He also referred to the more informal nature of

relationships in that prisons compared to the major metropolitan prisons and to

the fact that at Broome Regional Prison all cells provide for shared

accommodation. (RCIADIC W24:42-45)

Casuarina Prison (the new maximum security facility to replace Fremantle

Prison) is the first prison in this state to be 'purpose constructed' for unit

management. The internal design of this prison is to be based on a 'campus

style' so that it will operate as a number of small communities.

Of course, even under unit management, the custodial role of the prison officer

will always remain paramount. A level of suspicion and opposition must always

be expected to exist between officers and prisoners and this can be greater where

those parties are of two different cultures. (The issue of employment of

Aboriginal prison officers will be discussed in section 5.3.2 of this Report.) The

Commission is aware of a certain amount of resistance to the new system from

both prison officers and prisoners. This is to be expected in any inherently

conservative institution such as the prison system.

Implementation of the unit management system is still at a comparatively early

stage and the Commission is accordingly unable to reach any final conclusion

regarding its effectiveness and in particular, the degree to which it is appropriate

as a means of better managing and providing for the needs of Aboriginal

prisoners. Mr Anderson, who has been referred to above, visited Western

Australia in 1990 at the invitation of the Department of Corrective Services. His

purpose was to review and comment upon the implementation of the unit

management strategy in this state. Unfortunately, his report was not completed

in time for it to be considered by this Commission.

649

It is positive to note the evidence of the Executive Director of the Department that

since the introduction of unit management there has been a general reduction in

the level of violence and disciplinary charges against prisoners in Western

Australian institutions. Such charges are in part indicative of the climate in the

prison and the degree of tension and stress inside. Unfortunately, the

Commission has received no statistical information in support of the Executive

Director's statement. However, the Superintendent of Albany Regional Prison

told the Commission that since the introduction of the new system he had noted a

' .. . marked decrease in the amount of confrontation type discipline matters

between staff and prisoners .. .'. (RCIADIC W5 :327)

Notwithstanding this, there are serious reservations concerning the ability of

prison officers to effectively perform the role formerly assigned to Aboriginal

prison welfare officers. This issue will be discussed in detail in section 5.3.6 of

this report.

Case Management

Case Management is a new system of sentence planning designed to manage a

prisoner during his or her sentence. It is expected that it will come into operation

at some prisons in early 1991.

All unit officers will have responsibility for case management and all prisoners

(with the exception of very short term prisoners) will be case managed. The

development of a formal sentence plan for a prisoner under the Case Management

system is to be facilitated by constructive interaction between a prisoner and

his/her nominated case manager.

Referring to the new system, the current Superintendent of Eastern Goldfields

regional Prison stated:

The unit case management system is sentence release planning, that is if someone comes in with a long sentence they take part in helping to plan that sentence with an officer. So, if they have a couple of

650

years, they can say: well, I realise I've got to be maximum security for a while. And then we say : well, if you get a minimum which one do you want to go to, which prison, are you going to education, skills training, lets see which is the best place for you.

And there's an agreement, if you like, which then adds that component of responsibility and having a normal community sense to planning one's future. (R. Donovan, Underlying Issues Conference with Commissioner Dodson, Kalgoorlie 7 June 1900, T14)

The Department has informed the Commission that the role of the Case Manager

will be to provide:

(i) information and guidance;

(ii) an appropriate referral source to specialist areas (i.e. employment

offender development programmes, community resources etc.); and

(iii) a documented sentence plan that meets the needs of the prisoner, the

Department and the community.

In particular cases, case managers will be required to:

(i) design a sentence plan within the framework of the Prisons Act,

Prisons Regulations and Executive Director's Rules;

(ii) implement the plan through the Department's decision making process;

(iii) monitor the progress of prisoners by liaison with other unit staff

through weekly unit meetings;

(iv) set appropriate review dates and formally review prisoners to allow for

progress through the system;

(v) evaluate the benefits of the programme to the prisoner, the department

and the community; and

(vi) modify the programme as and when necessary.

651

Case managers will be required to communicate with industrial and programmes

staff and maintain an up-to-date awareness of all matters relating to their assigned

case. In addition they will have responsibility for making Parole

recommendations and for automatic parole under section 37 of the Offenders

Probation and Parole Act.

Professional Services in the Prison System

Parallel to the development and introduction of unit management, the Department

of Corrective Services has restructured the whole of its professional services into

a number of programmatic teams with the intention of better addressing critical

problem areas within the system. 'Professional services' refers to psychologists,

educationalists, social workers, counsellors, psychiatrists employed by or

contracted by the Department. I emphasise that most of these resources are

concentrated in the Perth area.

Teams have been developed in the following areas:

Substance Abuse Team

Department of Corrective Services research in 1987 indicated that between 65%-70% of the prisoner population (Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal) had significant

substance abuse problems. Amongst the Aboriginal prisoner population alcohol

was the major factor, although at Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison (whose

'catclunent' area includes Warburton and the central reserves) an increasing

number of prisoners are afflicted by petrol sniffing.

Substance abuse team programmes are available in Fremantle, Canning Vale,

Bandyup, Kamet and Wooroloo prisons. The programmes are not available in

country prisons. The Education Team offers an Aboriginal Alcohol Education

course package at all prisons except Wyndham subject to demand and resource

availability.

652

Skills Development Team

Many of the persons who are admitted to prison, both Aboriginal and non­

Aboriginal may be deficient in certain social skil1s that many in the general

community may take for granted.

This team focuses primarily on three areas. The first is the area of employment

and the basic education and training that are required to make a person

employable or potentially employable on the outside, matters such as how to use

a telephone, how to fill in a job application, how to present for a job interview.

The second area is recreation: attempting to develop skills in people whereby

they can constructively occupy their time. The Department should ensure that

this programme presents culturally appropriate information. For instance, it may

be fine on paper to occupy prisoners' time in Fremantle Prison with western

games such as table tennis. Yet, upon release Aboriginal prisoners from country

areas may have no access to facilities to continue such a pastime.

The final area is the general social skills area: programmes on how to interact

with people, to encourage social relationships to form and stress management.

These programmes are available to all prisoners at Bandyup, Wooroloo, Kamet,

Fremantle and Canning Vale prisons. Wholly Aboriginal courses directed

towards self-esteem are offered at Bandyup and Canrung Vale.

Sexual Offenders Team

This team targets those offenders convicted of sexual assaults and offences such

as incest and provides awareness and therapy programmes.

653

Special Needs Team

Targets those prisoners identified as being vulnerable and/or disturbed and

provides crisis management and longer term management planning. There is a

Special Needs team for the South West area (Bunbury, Pardelup and Albany

prisons) as well as in the Perth area.

The functioning of this team will be examined more closely in the section of this

Report dealing with Supervision and Monitoring of prisoners and in section

5.4.5 dealing with Mental Health Services.

Education Team

Education programmes of varying natures are available in all prisons, some have

been specifically developed to place emphasis on ensuring that the subject matter

of the studies is relevant to the experience and background of Aboriginal

prisoners. These are discussed in section 5.3.7 of this Report.

All of these programmes are supported by the Commission however, the

following observations are made:

1. Many of these programmes are either not available at country (regional)

prisons or are available only in a restricted manner. The only justification

for prisoners at country institutions to be denied equal access to the

facilities and resources available to those confined in the Perth area is

financial. This is a matter for Government as a whole to examine. The

Department can only operate within it' budget. Expenditure on prisons,

particularly when identified as being directed towards the welfare or

material needs of prisoners has ever been a politically sensitive issue.

In this regard I note the observation of Commissioner Muirhead (as he

then was) at page 36 of the Report of his Inquiry into the death of Charles

Michael at Bartons Mill Prison:

654

It is acknowledged that when Correctional authorities are struggling to maintain services within budgetary restraints, the emphasis is likely to be on security. (RCIADIC WI)

2. The limitations of any prison programme to counteract or otheiWise affect

the external conditions to which a prisoner will ultimately be released are

again noted and emphasised.

Security Oassification of Prisoners and Prisoner Placement

Upon admission to a prison in Western Australia, either on remand or as a

sentenced prisoner, all prisoners are assessed by prison authorities and given a

security rating. Security ratings are determined in accordance with Executive

Director's Rule 2B. The Executive Director's Rules are made pursuant to the

Prisons Act 1981 and apply to all prisons in Western Australia.

It is the policy of the Department (as expressed in Rule 2B) that every prisoner is

to be classified at the lowest level of security deemed necessary to ensure their

continuing custody within the prison system, the good government, good order

and security of prisons and the security of the public.

Prisoners are also periodically assessed during the course of their sentence partly

with a view to gradually reducing their security rating until they are eligible for

release.

There are five categories of security rating that may be assigned:

(i) Maximum Security

(ii) Medium Security

(iii) Low Medium Security

(iv) Minimum Security

(v) Open Security

655

Prisoners are assessed according to the following categories:

Remand Prisoners

Very Short term Prisoners: prisoners serving effective non-minimum term

sentences of up to and including four months.

Short Term Prisoners: prisoners serving effective minimum term sentences

of up to twelve months and all prisoners serving effective non-minimum

term sentences of more than four months and up to and including twelve

months.

Long Term Prisoners: prisoners serving effective sentences with or

without a minimum term of more than twelve months or indeterminate

sentences.

Long term maximum security facilities are only available at Albany, Bandyup and

Fremantle Prisons and at the C.W. Campbell Remand Centre. Long term

medium security facilities are available at Canning Vale, Bandyup, Albany and

Fremantle Prisons and at the C.W. Campbell Remand Centre.

Maximum security facilities for short term placement of prisoners (and generally

used for persons on remand) are available at Broome, Bunbury, Eastern

Goldfields, Greenough, Roebourne and Wyndham Regional Prisons. Other than

at Albany there is no provision for placement of long term medium and maximum

security prisoners in country prisons.

The result is that sentenced prisoners classified as medium or maximum security

or long term remand prisoners from the Kimberley, Pilbara, North Eastern

Goldfields and other country areas will be transferred to Perth (and possibly

Albany) to serve at least part of their sentence. Most prisoners from these areas

are Aboriginal.

656

Pending fonnal assessment all remand prisoners are classified as maximum

security. It has only been in rare circumstances that remand prisoners have been

classified as other than maximum security. There is currently a trial scheme in

operation at Roeboume Regional Prison for classification o.f remandees to be

conducted by the Superintendent with the intention, where possible, of reducing

a remand prisoners security rating so that he/she may be held in the prison closest

to his/her home and family. All classification of remands elsewhere in the state

must be with the approval of the Assistant Director, Prisoner Placement.

The fact that spiritual and psychological distress may be experienced by

Aboriginal prisoners removed far from their home country and community has

already been noted in this report. The degree of trauma may be greater than that

experienced by non-Aboriginal prisoners and is an important matter for the

attention of all correctional authorities. In any event, it must be acknowledged

that for most prisoners, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, a sentence of

imprisonment that is ·required to be served at a prison in Perth - hundreds and

possibly thousands of kilometres from their home and family - is a more severe

penalty than a sentence of similar length imposed on a person whose family and

friends are resident in the metropolitan area and are able to make personal visits.

However, with the current practice of the Department of Corrective Services and

the currently available facilities it is inevitable that some Aboriginal prisoners

from country areas of the state will continue to serve at least part of their sentence

in metropolitan institutions. This was the case in the death of the young prisoner

at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in February 1983. At the time of his death he

was classified as a medium security prisoner and had been serving his sentence at

Fremantle and Canning Vale Prisons. He was from Roeboume and all hi s fa mily

resided there. Prior to being sentenced he had never been away from Roeboume

and its surrounding area. He spoke his traditional language, Indjibandji.

In the Inquiry into his death by this Commission his family expressed their

sadness and sense of loss at his removal to Perth and asked why prisoners from

657

Roebourne could not serve their sentence at the Roebourne Regional Prison. He

would still have been deprived of his liberty yet would at least have the comfort

and security of being able to receive visits from his family and of mixing with a

majority of prisoners from his own area.

The lack of facilities for the placement of medium and maximum security long

term prisoners in country areas weighs most heavily on the Aboriginal population

of this state, the majority of whom reside outside the metropolitan area. Ideally

what is required is the provision of such facilities at Regional Prisons. That this

would require considerable expenditure by Government and is unlikely in the

short term is acknowledged. However, such an observation does not detract

from the current position being highly unsatisfactory and discriminatory to many

citizens of this State.

In the meantime it is considered that in determining the placement of Aboriginal

prisoners within the prison system, the Department of Corrective Services should

take into account the actual and classificatory (or 'skin') relationships of those

prisoners and where possible, seek to place prisoners in prisons with other

members of their tribal group. This would reduce the degree of isolation felt by

those prisoners and the distress at separation from their home country. It is

encouraging to note that in evidence before my colleague Commissioner Dodson,

the current superintendent of Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison stated that such

a factor is a consideration now taken into account in the assessment of prisoners

(Underlying Issues Conference, Kalgoorlie, June 1990).

NAILSS Survey of Aboriginal Prisoners

During the course of the Royal Commission the National Aboriginal and Islander

Legal Services Secretariat (NAILSS) conducted a survey of Aboriginal prisoners

in prisons in each state and in the Northern Territory. In Western Australia,

Aboriginal prisoners were surveyed in each metropolitan and country prison.

The results of the NAILSS survey in W A were submitted to this Commission in

658

October 1990 in a document entitled 'A Report Into the Western Australian

Prison System'.

In this State the NAILSS report was the result of a survey of 319 Aboriginal

prisoners conducted in April and June 1990. Due to the low number of female

prisoners surveyed no distinction was drawn between male and female

responses. I note the following information concerning the respondents to the

survey:

84.4% of the respondents were aged less than 34 years

• the average age of the respondents was 25.94 years

• 83% of respondents were sentenced prisoners

14.7% of the respondents were on remand

Prisoners who were included in the survey were asked questions in the following

areas:

1. Personal details of the respondents- age, family, marital status, education

and employment history, prior involvement with the Criminal Justice or

welfare systems as a juvenile etc.

2 . Status of the prisoner (sentenced or on remand).

3. Whether the prisoner had had any contact with psychologists, drug and

alcohol counsellors and parole officers in prison and the 'benefit' of that

contact

4. The prisoners' opinion on the desirability of stress counsellors in prison

5. Use of Aboriginal Welfare Officers by prisoners in the past

matters for which welfare officer consulted

degree of satisfaction with the assistance of welfare officer

number of respondents with current welfare problems

nature of those problems

659

manner of dealing with those problems

preference of person to deal with welfare matters

6. Prisoners use of A VS

satisfaction with A VS service

7. Prisoners participation in training courses

nature of courses undertaken by respondents

introduction of specific Aboriginal education courses in prison

8. If prisoners were in favour of an Aboriginal organisation being formed to

represent Aboriginal prisoners interest.

9. If prisoners were in favour of wings or units in prisons exclusively for

Aboriginal prisoners.

10. If prisoners were in favour of prisons being established exclusively for

Aboriginal prisoners.

All areas surveyed by NAILSS are of interest and assistance to this Commission.

Of particular interest are the series of questions relating to welfare services, the

A VS and the possibility of establishing excl4sive Aboriginal wings or prisons.

In this section I tum to a consideration of the latter proposal - an area of both

philosophical and practical difficulty. In section 5.3.6 I address the provision of

welfare services and the operation of the A VS in prison.

Aboriginal Wings- Aboriginal Prisons?

The N AILSS report recorded the response of prisoners to the proposition that

there be established wings or units within prisons exclusively for Aboriginal

prisoners as follows :

660

Number %

Yes 163 51.1

No 77 24.1

Don't Care 7 2.2

No Answers 72 22.6

TafAL 319 100

The response to the proposition that there be established prisons exclusively for

Aboriginal offenders was as follows:

Number %

Yes 158 49.5

No 81 25.7

Don't Care 7 2.2

No Answers 73 22.6

TafAL 319 100

Following those questions, the respondents were asked whether the staff in

Aboriginal wings or prisons should be Aboriginal, non-Aboriginal or a blend of

both:

Number %

Aboriginal 143 44.8

Non-Aboriginal 3 0.9

Abl&NonAbl 44 13.8

Don't Care 64 20.0

No Answer 65 20.3

TafAL 319 100

661

The possibility of establishing prisons exclusively for Aboriginal offenders was

al so rai sed in two further documents submitted to the Commission by NAILSS.

In a submission entitled 'Killing Me Softly - Juvenile Justice and Genocide'

prepared by Ms V Jeavons on behalf of NAILSS, reference is made to the Danish

pri son system. Denmark also has responsibility for Greenland and its indigenous

population. The Danish system includes prisons and special blocks constructed

for Greenlanders with a component of Greenland staff. Ms Jeavons comments:

Indeed such a prison system is a desirable precedent- small prisons f or Aboriginals with an Aboriginal staff component. The Victorian Government has commissioned a study to determine the feasibility of Aboriginal gaols with Aboriginal staff (pp83-84)

Furthe r information on the NAILSS national prison survey contained in the

submi ssion by Ms Jeavons records (with the exception of prisoners in the

Northe rn T erritory) a response of 50% or above by prisoners in each state in

favo ur of pri sons being established exclusively for Aboriginals.

I have also been supplied with a draft copy of a paper by Ms K. Hazelhurst

entiUed 'The Privati sation of Service Delivery to Indigenous Peoples Within the

Criminal Justice System : A Canadian Model'. That paper details a number of

initi atives taken in Canada which provide for involvement of Canadian Indian

community orga ni sations in the operation of the criminal justice system.

M Hazelhurst's paper concludes with a serie of recommendations on behalf of

A ILSS. One of the recommendations i :

7. That model Aboriginal run correctional facilities be established in each stare at th e soonest possible time. (p 54)

I have con iderable re ervation concerning the e tabli hment of exclu ive

'Aborigi nal Pri on ' a oppo ed to community correctional programme

developed and operated by Abori ginal organi ation . A I have tated earlier in

thi ection, it i recogni ed that impri onment a ocial anction i likely to

remain in u e in thi coun try in th e fore eeable future and that numbers of

Aboriginal people will conti nu e to ntenced to term of impri onment However

662

prison remains an institution devised, controlled and belonging to European

culture. Imprisonment is antithetical to the broadly communal nature of

Aboriginal social relations. Indeed, the term 'Aboriginal Prison' may be seen as

an oxymoron i.e inherently contradictory. ·

Whilst recognising that special provision must be made for Aboriginal people in

the criminal justice system, it is important that in doing so one does not appear to

legitimise the continued imprisonment oflarge numbers of Aboriginal people. If

it must be seen as a necessity, imprisonment must then be recognised as a

'necessary evil'. In introducing change into the criminal justice system, the focus

must not be allowed to shift from imprisonment as a matter of last resort and

reducing the numbers of people held in prison custody.

While recogmsmg that ultimately direction must come from Aboriginals

themselves, I suggest that the greatest scope for positive involvement by

Aboriginal people is in the area of community based alternatives to sentences of

imprisonment and in providing assistance in the re-integration into the community

of those persons released after serving sentence.

The primary focus of Ms Hazelhurst's paper is on the operation of the ative

Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA) which was formed in 1971 . She

describes the NCSA as :

.. . a private, Native-run organisation which contracts to various government and justice agencies to provide specific services. It works closely with a range of other personnel to impart a better understanding of Native clients and their needs: correctional officers, police, probation and parole officers, court staff,

administrators, foster parents, social workers, school teachers, medical personnel and others. (Hazelhurst, 1990:4)

From its inception 19 years ago the NCSA has grown from a small agency to a

province-wide multi service organisation. Government supports ative services

because they help provide equal access to the law for Native people. The CSA

works at two main levels: Community Development and servicing in stitutions.

663

In the latter area their operations are designed to assist Native offenders to cope

with correctional institutions and to grow personally while under sentence.

Assistance is also provided to offenders to enable them to adjust back into the

community.

The NCSA has contracted with the provincial and federal governments to

establish and operate a number of community correctional facilities and

programmes such as:

Grierson Centre - a minimum security pre-release centre for adult male

offenders male offenders.

Bush and Forestry Camp Programmes - Native run bush and forestry

camp programmes set up as a minimum security alternative to ease

overcrowding in institutions.

Half-way Houses and Group Homes for parolees.

It is noted that the NCSA has confined itself to the operation of community

correctional programmes. It does not operate 'Native Prisons' although it does

provide services to Native offenders serving terms of imprisonment. Some of

those services are described in section 5.3.6 of this Report.

I consider that the experience of the NCSA in Canada provides a positive

example for the future interaction of Aboriginal people and the criminal justice

system in Australia.

664

5.3.2 RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING OF PRISON

OFFICERS

Recruionent of Prison Officers

As at June 1990, there were 1206 prison officers employed by the Department.

This figure was comprised of:

Probationary Prison Officers 120

Industrial Officers 183

Prison Officers 580

First Class Prison Officers 140

Senior Officers 162

Chief Officers 21

TOTAL 1206

The figure for the probationary prison officers includes seventy officers then

Wldergoing initial training and fifty who were placed at institutions.

The Department currently employs only nine Aboriginal prison officers. Three

hold prison officer rank with between four - eight years service. Three are

Probationary Officers who have completed their training and have taken up

positions at institutions. The remaining three were undergoing their initial

training at the Department' s Staff Training College.

The Interim Report of the Royal Commission (Muirhead) recommended:

Recommendation 26 Police and Prison Departments should re-assess their recruitment policies and liaise with appropriate Aboriginal organisations and educational institutions to ensure that positive encouragement is

given to the recruitment of Aborigines.

Recommendation 27 Appropriate screening procedures should be implemented to ensure that potential officers who will have contact with Aboriginal people

665

in their duties are not recruited or retained by police or prison departments whilst holding racist views which cannot be eliminated by training or re-training programmes.

The Department has infonned the Commission that it believes that the recruitment

of Aboriginal people for employment as prison officers is a necessary step to

address the current racial imbalance in Western Australia's prisons - Aboriginal

people being over represented in the prison population and under represented in

tenns of Departmental staff.

In 1989 the Department conducted an analysis into Aboriginal recruitment which

resulted in a number of strategies being identified which it was hoped would

increase employment opportunities for Aboriginal people. A new position was

created in the Department's Staff Training Branch with the responsibilities of:

researching and developing strategies for recruitment and support of

Aboriginal staff,

developing an Aboriginal community network for recruitment purposes,

assisting in development, implementation and reviews of Departmental

policy on Aboriginal issues,

providing con ultancy advice to branches on Aboriginal is ues.

The pre ent incumbent of that po ilion i an Aboriginal person.

Other change which followed the review of Aboriginal Recruitment included

rede igning the election te ts for the po ition of Pri on Officer a the fonner

criteria were con idered to be culturally biased again t Aboriginal people. The

p ychologicaltesling of applicants was di continued for thi reason.

It i noted that there are no fonnal requirements for the po ilion ofPri on Officer.

AI o, during the election proce , applicants for the po ilion attend a forty-five

minute interview before a panel of three. The interview con id er kill and

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experiences based on the candidates previous employment and life experiences.

Some questions also centre on the candidates attitudes and possible biases

towards minority groups.

In the Farmer Inquiry, Mr D. Northcott, then Acting Director Prison Operations

North in the Department of Corrective Services, informed the Commission that

although the Department was very eager to recruit Aboriginal officers they had

had very little success (RCIADIC W5 :523-525). It is recognised that the role of

prison officer may be very difficult for an Aboriginal person. Aboriginal prison

officers, no less than Aboriginal inmates, may be subject to tribal obligations

such as avoidance relationships and obligation relationships. These may cause

great difficulty in the exercise of an officers supervisory and disciplinary role

towards those prisoners with whom they have a family or skin relationship.

An Aboriginal Prison Officer currently employed at Broome Regional Pri son but

who is from the Eastern Goldfields area, informed the Commission that when

she formerly worked at Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison many of the

prisoners there were related to her. She stated that that had made some aspects of

her job, such as giving instructions difficult. She added th at she did not

experience the same problems at Broome (RCIADIC W31 :21). In some

measure, similar problems would have confronted the Aboriginal welfare officers

formerly employed by the Department, however, given the non-disciplinary

function of their role and that they were non-uniformed, the degree of connict

was substantially lower.

If increased numbers of Aboriginal pri on officers become available to the

Department, consideration should be given where possible, to placement of

several of those officers within the same institution(s). It is considered that uch

a move would reduce any sense of alienation or isolation that those officers may

feel in a work situation where the vast majority of their superiors and fellow

officers are of European descent. In this regard the Commission received

evidence during its sittings at Broome in July 1989 that the fir t Aboriginal

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Prison Officer employed at Broome Regional Prison left the service after a very

short period after experiencing difficulty in 'fitting in' with the other prison

officers (RCIADIC Wl2:234).

Training

Training for Department of Corrective Services staff is coordinated by the

Department's Staff Training and Development Branch. Successful applicants for

the position of Prison Officer attend a twelve week residential course at the

Department's Staff Training College at Wooroloo - the Probationary Prison

Officer's Course. In addition to lectures and workshops the course includes