ACR102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: No Offence, Road Traffic Safety, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
ACR102 – Introducing Crime and Criminal Justice
Week 2
o‘Police’ refers to a particular institution, while ‘policing’ implies a set of processes with
specific social functions (Reiner 2000:1).
oBut policing and law enforcement can be carried out by a wide variety of other agencies:
oNational
oAustralian Federal Police (AFP);
oAustralian Crime Commission (ACC) (national criminal investigation of serious and
organised crime);
oThe Department of Immigration and Border Protection (immigration and border
protection recently merged).
oLocal
oCouncil rangers enforce council by-laws around litter, animals (fishing, dog registration),
parking.
oWhat about International police?
History of Police in Australia
U.K. (1829) Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel introduced the London Metropolitan Police
(‘peelers’, ‘bobbies’)
Australia: Not just policy transfer from UK. Policing initially performed by a range of groups
including the military, convict night-watchmen, indigenous ‘native police’
Many ex-Irish and some British police migrated to perform the task
Early problems with misbehaviour
Control was quite localised up until centralisation of power over police
Sydney Police Act 1833 – first professional city force
Other states followed in succession
‘Centralisation’ of policing
Centralisation vs decentralisation:
Models of control are a key foundational concept
Snapshot of Police in Australia
State-based policing services cost approximately $10.2 billion (or $437 per person) in 2013-
14.
State-based police employed about 63,000 operational (or sworn) and over 6,000 unsworn
staff in 2013-14.
Nationally, on average, there were 270 operational police staff per 100,000 people 2013-14
(N.T. 721 per 100,000).
Nationally, 32.2% of all police staff were female in 2013-14 (in Victoria, 24.7% of sworn
officers female 2012-13).
Policing is not always proportionally reflective of cultural diversity; many from Anglo-
Australian or English-speaking backgrounds.
Traditionally dominated by white, anglo-saxon, heterosexual males (WASHMs).
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