Ms LAWRIE - 2001-11-27
Can the minister inform the Assembly about proposals to review and expand the services provided by school-based constables?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question, because there is quite a bit of talk out in the community about school-based constables, and quite a deal of speculation that this government is about to move them. Let me put that to rest right at the outset. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I joined with the member for Blain at the stage 2 opening of Bakewell Primary School last week. Two school-based constables were there and I took the opportunity to speak with them, as I did with the school council chairperson. The member for Blain himself indicated that it was a concern within the school council and the school community overall, so it was an opportunity to raise with them the concerns and this government’s views.
I also took the opportunity at the Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Nhulunbuy High School, where the school council chairperson and a number of school councillors, as well as the parents of the awardees of the Duke of Edinburgh Certificates were gathered for morning tea, as was the school-based constable, Ian Williams, who does a great job there. I was able to put his mind, individually, and the school staff, students, parents, the lot, that we simply are not about to abolish or remove the school-based constables. In fact, we appreciate the job that they do, as indeed does the entire community. I need to make that very, very clear, that we appreciate the work that they do. It was a good program instituted by our predecessors many years ago.
What is, in fact, being looked at is the role of the school-based constables. We are looking with a view to enhancing and strengthening both the role of the school-based constables and their interaction with schools, and their ability to get around and visit schools. A big part of the workload of school-based constables at the moment is in the delivery of the DARE program, the drug awareness program, to students. We are looking very closely at their role in the delivery of that. The questions are being asked: are they the most appropriate people in the community to deliver that, given that their primary role is to develop a positive image of the police force? They interact with the students and form these relationships with young people so that the young students themselves see police as leaders in the community. They then develop this positive, healthy, interaction with police officers on that positive level, so that the first and subsequent times that they are having interaction with a school-based constable, it is not because they are in trouble, it is first and foremost on a positive level.
The issues that are dealt with by school-based constables are road safety, crime prevention, crime reduction, the investigation of those matters within the school community, the assistance with diversionary programs, victim/offender conferencing, the whole question of addressing juvenile crime issues within the community and assisting schools to deal with suspected crimes. They are what we see as the core role, the core function of school-based constables, and that is what we want to see them getting back to.
We think if we can look at a reduction in the workload of school-based constables, upfront actively delivering the DARE program, there is a greater ability for them to focus on these other roles that they have. We are also interested in increasing the service of the school-based constables to rural and remote schools which do not see them, in some cases at all and, in many other cases very, very infrequently.
There may be some changes to the role, but what changes do come about from this review will be from a point of view of enhancing and strengthening their role. I note a press release earlier today from the President of the Police Association, Vince Kelly, asking the question and putting it out there in the public arena again, and calling on the government to consult with school-based constables in the review and look at how they deliver services and, in fact, what they do deliver. I make this commitment on behalf of government: we will consult. We will consult with the 20 school-based constables. We will consult with the Police Commissioner and police management in this operation, to ensure that they have an opportunity to put their views - and important views because they are the people out there doing the work - and those views will be taken into account in our review of just where we go with the entire program.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for her question, because there is quite a bit of talk out in the community about school-based constables, and quite a deal of speculation that this government is about to move them. Let me put that to rest right at the outset. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I joined with the member for Blain at the stage 2 opening of Bakewell Primary School last week. Two school-based constables were there and I took the opportunity to speak with them, as I did with the school council chairperson. The member for Blain himself indicated that it was a concern within the school council and the school community overall, so it was an opportunity to raise with them the concerns and this government’s views.
I also took the opportunity at the Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Nhulunbuy High School, where the school council chairperson and a number of school councillors, as well as the parents of the awardees of the Duke of Edinburgh Certificates were gathered for morning tea, as was the school-based constable, Ian Williams, who does a great job there. I was able to put his mind, individually, and the school staff, students, parents, the lot, that we simply are not about to abolish or remove the school-based constables. In fact, we appreciate the job that they do, as indeed does the entire community. I need to make that very, very clear, that we appreciate the work that they do. It was a good program instituted by our predecessors many years ago.
What is, in fact, being looked at is the role of the school-based constables. We are looking with a view to enhancing and strengthening both the role of the school-based constables and their interaction with schools, and their ability to get around and visit schools. A big part of the workload of school-based constables at the moment is in the delivery of the DARE program, the drug awareness program, to students. We are looking very closely at their role in the delivery of that. The questions are being asked: are they the most appropriate people in the community to deliver that, given that their primary role is to develop a positive image of the police force? They interact with the students and form these relationships with young people so that the young students themselves see police as leaders in the community. They then develop this positive, healthy, interaction with police officers on that positive level, so that the first and subsequent times that they are having interaction with a school-based constable, it is not because they are in trouble, it is first and foremost on a positive level.
The issues that are dealt with by school-based constables are road safety, crime prevention, crime reduction, the investigation of those matters within the school community, the assistance with diversionary programs, victim/offender conferencing, the whole question of addressing juvenile crime issues within the community and assisting schools to deal with suspected crimes. They are what we see as the core role, the core function of school-based constables, and that is what we want to see them getting back to.
We think if we can look at a reduction in the workload of school-based constables, upfront actively delivering the DARE program, there is a greater ability for them to focus on these other roles that they have. We are also interested in increasing the service of the school-based constables to rural and remote schools which do not see them, in some cases at all and, in many other cases very, very infrequently.
There may be some changes to the role, but what changes do come about from this review will be from a point of view of enhancing and strengthening their role. I note a press release earlier today from the President of the Police Association, Vince Kelly, asking the question and putting it out there in the public arena again, and calling on the government to consult with school-based constables in the review and look at how they deliver services and, in fact, what they do deliver. I make this commitment on behalf of government: we will consult. We will consult with the 20 school-based constables. We will consult with the Police Commissioner and police management in this operation, to ensure that they have an opportunity to put their views - and important views because they are the people out there doing the work - and those views will be taken into account in our review of just where we go with the entire program.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016