Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Executive Director of our Community Resilience and Engagement Command Karen Elligot on the drive to recruit more Aboriginal Liaison Officers

Transcript

Executive Director of our Community Resilience and Engagement Command Karen Elligot on the drive to recruit more Aboriginal Liaison Officers · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now we know that our Aboriginal Liaison officers, they are
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  Speaker 1: a really important part of the Northern Territories Police Force,
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  Speaker 1: a role which does help to provide expertise across the
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  Speaker 1: force and also support a focus on real, proactive and
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  Speaker 1: inclusive engagement within the Northern Territories community. Now, I know
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  Speaker 1: that there's probably plenty of people out there wondering exactly
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  Speaker 1: what they do, how it all works, and we do
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  Speaker 1: know that the Northern Territory Police are currently recruiting more
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  Speaker 1: of our wonderful Aboriginal Liaison officers. And joining me in
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  Speaker 1: the studio to tell us a little bit more about
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  Speaker 1: what they do is Karen Eleigert, who is the Executive
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  Speaker 1: Director of Community Resilience and Engagement. Good morning to you, Karen.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, thanks for having me on.
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  Speaker 1: Lovely to have you in the studio. Firstly, Karen, tell
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  Speaker 1: us a little bit more about the work that the
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  Speaker 1: Aboriginal Liaison officers do.
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  Speaker 2: Say Katie. Their Aboriginal Liaison officers are a try service
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  Speaker 2: public servant role. Say. While their focus is in romte
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  Speaker 2: looking really closely and being supervised by the officers in
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  Speaker 2: charge of those remote stations. The aim is to over
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  Speaker 2: time develop and skill the alos up to be able
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  Speaker 2: to assist and work with the agency in emergency management,
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  Speaker 2: in bush fire management. So really really take advantage of
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  Speaker 2: their ability to be on the ground in their own communities.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, And so are they just based in communities
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  Speaker 1: at the moment or do we see them around Darwin
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  Speaker 1: and everywhere where? Are they so?
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  Speaker 2: At the moment, Katie, we have Aboriginal liaison officers across
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  Speaker 2: the territory. We have a team in Alice Springs, a
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  Speaker 2: team in Yu and Demu, what I Kintaur, Tenant Creek, Galiwinku,
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  Speaker 2: La Jamanu, Barolula, Daily River, Timber Creek, Hearts Range, Warremanga, Sana, Theresa,
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  Speaker 2: and Maningrida. We do have one ALO officer that is
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  Speaker 2: in my team here in Darwin as well and.
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  Speaker 1: Current how do you find, like, particularly when you're out
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  Speaker 1: in some of those communities and well all around the
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  Speaker 1: Northern territory, how do you find those Aboriginal liaison officers
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  Speaker 1: sort of help to you know, to make sure that
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  Speaker 1: that I suppose that that relationship between the police and
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  Speaker 1: the community is a really good one.
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  Speaker 2: So the Aboriginal liaison officers are recruited because of their
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  Speaker 2: cultural expertise and their ability to understand and work within
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  Speaker 2: their own communities. So their local recruits from within their communities,
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  Speaker 2: they really have to go through quite a rigorous application
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  Speaker 2: process to become an ALO. They need to be endorsed
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  Speaker 2: and recognized from their community as a suitable applicant, somebody
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  Speaker 2: that is a good ambassador and can represent their community appropriately.
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  Speaker 2: They need to be endorsed by the traditional owners and
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  Speaker 2: cultural elders of the community. And they also need to
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  Speaker 2: be endorsed and comfortable with the officer in charge of
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  Speaker 2: the community. Now, when we get to that stage, my team,
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  Speaker 2: which is the Community Resilience and Engagement Command, I have
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  Speaker 2: a number of sworn staff in the team, Aboriginal police
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  Speaker 2: officers as well as public servants. We then go to
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  Speaker 2: meet in community with those potential ALO applicants just to
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  Speaker 2: talk them through the roles and responsibilities and make sure
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  Speaker 2: that they're the right fit for the role.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah right, It sounds like there's actually quite a bit
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  Speaker 1: that goes on behind the scenes before you can actually
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  Speaker 1: be appointed as an ALO. How many have we got
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  Speaker 1: at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: So at the moment, Katie, we've recruited thirty five original
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  Speaker 2: liason officers since late October last year. We are actively
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  Speaker 2: recruiting now, so we've never had to advertise. It's really
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  Speaker 2: linking in and working with community to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they have the right people for the roles. We are
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  Speaker 2: having another course that's coming up in late March that'll
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  Speaker 2: go through to April. We're actively always looking for the
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  Speaker 2: right people in their community.
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  Speaker 1: So thirty five right now, but you are about to
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  Speaker 1: do that additional course so April, as you just said there,
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  Speaker 1: so what you know, who are you looking for and
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  Speaker 1: are you looking for anybody that's sort of based in
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  Speaker 1: Darwin or are you out head hunting people? How's it work?
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  Speaker 2: So we've already got several applicants from across the territory.
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  Speaker 2: They are from areas that we haven't recruited from previously.
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  Speaker 2: We've also got a number of people who want to
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  Speaker 2: be Alo's when the time is right for them. There
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  Speaker 2: are people that are family members of the Aboriginal community
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  Speaker 2: police officers for instance, those kids coming up through their
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  Speaker 2: community that really aspire to be part of the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory Police, Fire and Emergency services. So we have an
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  Speaker 2: active waiting list, but we also have several applications At
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  Speaker 2: the moment, we have got a few hour applications from
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  Speaker 2: the Baggett community in Darwin, which is fantastic. The mixture
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  Speaker 2: of the age demographics is both young and old. We
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  Speaker 2: have a lot of young people who are keen to
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  Speaker 2: join us, but we also have employed currently a number
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  Speaker 2: of older people who really have that cultural authority within
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  Speaker 2: their communities. Most of the alos that we recruit talking language,
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  Speaker 2: which is really really integral in that community engagement role
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  Speaker 2: that they play, and they really have that cultural authority
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  Speaker 2: to be able to represent their community, make decisions with
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  Speaker 2: their community elders, and really be that linkage between their
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  Speaker 2: community and the police within their community.
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  Speaker 1: Have you found it like, how have you found that
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  Speaker 1: those officers have gone since you know, since commencing October
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  Speaker 1: last year and since sort of starting in some of
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  Speaker 1: those communities, what's it been like?
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  Speaker 2: It has been challenging for some others. We have some
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  Speaker 2: really amazing people that have embraced the role and actively
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  Speaker 2: led a lot of community engagement activities. We've got one
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  Speaker 2: of our alos, for instance, in Elliott, who is actively
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  Speaker 2: engaged with the school there. He makes it his business
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  Speaker 2: to go around every morning and pick up all the
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  Speaker 2: sleepy head kids and take them to school. We have
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  Speaker 2: another ALO in Daily River. He recently set up a
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  Speaker 2: community funday for his whole community. He pretty much initiated
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  Speaker 2: that off his own back. We had the police horses
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  Speaker 2: there and the police dogs. We set up like a
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  Speaker 2: water slide and just a barbecue, so really linking into
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  Speaker 2: community those efforts. We're really looking for people who are
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  Speaker 2: passionate about making a difference in their community, who understand
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  Speaker 2: the role that the police, foreign emergency services can play
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  Speaker 2: to make a difference in their community. Really looking for
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  Speaker 2: people who want to step up. There is also a
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  Speaker 2: career path that my team has mapped out for the alos.
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  Speaker 2: So we have a number of Aboriginal liaison officers currently
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  Speaker 2: that have applied to be Aboriginal Community police officers. So
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  Speaker 2: we're just waiting to see how they go. And then
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  Speaker 2: we have a number of obviously acpos that are ready
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  Speaker 2: to transition into the constable stream.
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  Speaker 1: So I think I met one of them a couple
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  Speaker 1: of weeks ago. She was a great young woman.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and there's a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of
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  Speaker 2: passion across our agency to work with the alos, grow
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  Speaker 2: them as a really key resource in our team, and
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  Speaker 2: really the opportunities and the role of an ALO is
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  Speaker 2: quite endless. It's something we're really passionate about, Karen.
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  Speaker 1: Where can people go, well, how can they find out
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more information If they are listening this
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  Speaker 1: morning and think I know the perfect person or I
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  Speaker 1: am the perfect person for this job.
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  Speaker 2: Say, any potential ALI Katie that would like to get
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  Speaker 2: in touch with us can call my team on eight
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  Speaker 2: nine eight five seven zero two six or eight nine
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  Speaker 2: eight five eight nine zero nine. My team is really
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  Speaker 2: there to mentor support and guide prospective alos, but also
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  Speaker 2: the existing alos. We provide a lot of mentoring. We
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  Speaker 2: help them with their day to day challenges. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of the alos live really really complex lives and absolute
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  Speaker 2: credit to them that they're able to come into work
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  Speaker 2: every day. They live and work in two worlds really,
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  Speaker 2: and they're able to represent their community professionally and really
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  Speaker 2: dig in and work with us when the times are tough.
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  Speaker 1: Oh good stuff. Well, I think it sounds like a
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  Speaker 1: really good thing, and particularly like you were saying, they're
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  Speaker 1: how one of those alos in the community picking the
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  Speaker 1: kids up for school and stuff like that, and it
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  Speaker 1: really sort of changes. I think that relationship with the
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  Speaker 1: police and children or really promotes that good relationship with
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  Speaker 1: the territory police and with the children in the community,
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  Speaker 1: which is hopefully a really good thing.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Karen, lovely to speak with you this morning. I
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  Speaker 1: really appreciate your time and appreciate you coming in and
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  Speaker 1: telling us a bit.
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  Speaker 2: More about all of that.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.