The History of Australian Policing
Introduction
The following research will consider the history and development of Australia’s police force, drawing on key considerations as to the effects of colonial rule by the British in its transition. In identifying the establishment of policing norms, accounting for hold over issues such as corruption, widely attributed to the influence and design of British policing, an emphasis will be placed on identifying key variables which were utilized and designed to elevate the morality of the police force. This examination will consider the adoption of new laws and the creation of commissions aimed at reducing corruption, seeking to reestablish their credibility within the communities they serve. Additional points which this research will cover, validated through research articles and personal narratives, is the roles women played in the evolution of Australian policing agencies, which in its inception was designed as an overbearing patriarchal organization. As Australia has sought to remedy these perceptions, interviews will be included within the review, highlighting ongoing development and areas that continue to require additional revision and improvement. With Australia seeking to establish its law enforcement agencies as the best in the world, this overview, supported through theoretical assessment will provide a foundation for the possibility of future testing to qualify its standing and moral propensity in serving the general public as its first response and line of defense in the event of breakdowns in societal norms.
Australia and its Colonial History
As the British arrived in Botany Bay in January of 1788, seeking to establish a penal colony, the rewriting of Australian history rowed towards the shore, bringing with it disease, conflict, and of course, civilization. This civilization included the replication of British law and policing, ultimately subjugating the population and subsequently influencing the development of the country. While Australia eventually sought and achieved its independence, even today, operating as one of the members of 53 states of the Commonwealth of Nations, while participating voluntarily but still acknowledging the British Monarch as the head of state, British influence in adopting new rules, laws, and format of government remain tenuously and covertly connected to Australia’s ongoing evolution both in the development of its society and coinciding with the policing of its population (Journal of Economic Literature, 2005).
As the developmental ideologies of British policy and policing were rowed ashore in search of an alternative location to store their prisoners, the result was the creation of external and internal self-perception of this new British colony as subordinate to its colonial overseer. As Baker’s (1997) research into Australia’s histories of policing note a key point, which is that this topic has been neglected because of the negativity associated with the past and the hostilities towards the British it would likely induce, regardless, there is a need for understanding and reconciliation with the past. With the British overseeing the policing of the Australian people for over 150 years, the definitive connections and overlay of cultures was a predictable outcome, with many of these policing norms continuing on through contemporary society (Baker, 1997).
In drawing off Baker’s (1997) research, what is breached are the historical consequences of the interchange of the cultures ideas on crime control, detection, and prevention by the police, allowing for social and political control of the population. As English laws matriculated into Australian government, ultimately dictating and changing policies, what becomes evidence is “the inequitable impact of policing on certain sections of Australian society, the subject of little historical examination” (Baker, 1997, p. 134), which have been casually overlooked, and attributed to evolution, not colonial rule. Despite the researchers making the obvious and necessary connections, contemporary Australian policing by its design and delivery mimic its British counterparts and have fallen subject to the same ills, corruption, overzealous officers, and the abuse and criminalization of particular populations such as the Aborigines. Despite the significant problems, both past and present, Baker acknowledges several polls noting that while “public respect for police in Australia is low….survey data, admittedly limited in scope, suggests that about two-thirds of Australians are generally satisfied with their police service” (Baker, 1997, p. 134). This could be construed as a positive transference of police practices and ideology from Australia’s British cousins or instead, a skewed survey that promoted a majority opinion that seeks to promote and continue a status quo and police practices that support class structure and status, another gift from the British. In any event, the definitiveness of Australia being defined and allowing for elastic interconnections between the past and contemporary policing services is clearly established, highlighting ongoing influence and operating as a shadowy reflection while accounting for modest and minor independent refinements (Baker, 1997).
As history and development are predicated on the development of societal norms, Blandford, and Sarre’s (2009) research on the evolution of policing practices in Australia offers pause for concern as the Colonial Office in London retained control over the police forces, post colonization. As the power of the police force was derived from local military garrisons stationed throughout the country, it could be argued that it was designed as more of a police state, ensuring that the power stayed centralized at the top. As colonial policing practices allowed for rampant racism, prejudice, and persecution by the British, using Australian collaborators, sympathizers, or those simply looking for power, the British were able to manipulate the Australians into persecuting and prosecuting their own, under British rule and laws. The Aborigines were a prime target for colonial British and Australian police forces, as they struggled with this new foreign power who sought to establish rules in a country and culture for centuries had operated with a respect, dignity, and secrecy that the British seemed determined to stamp out and ensure submission (Blandford & Sarre, 2009). While this black mark in the history of colonial British policing is routinely overlooked, where instead, rule of law, rights, and a constitutional democracy, with a police force available to enforce these rights is how history appears to be keen in remembering Australian police force evolution and its norms.
Recreating the Police Force
With the adoption of the Colonial Laws Validity Act of 1865, separation between England and Australia had begun, allowing for colonial legislation to become the acting legislation and backed by the local authorities. In creating and adopting these mandates, colonial legislatures in Australia were strengthened, and as a result, so were their police forces. As Australia sought to personalize its police force and address immediate concerns within the community, no longer beholden to English authority, what emerged were the perceptions of a well ordered society, seeking to emulate its contemporary counterparts, such as France and England. As the Victorian era was taking shape, the ruling elites of Australia pushed for harder and stronger laws, ensuring order and the protection of property, seeking to go beyond the confines of the British and ensuring a rule of law that would allow for the maintenance of order and the adherence to decorum in all public places. The police force was tasked at its very evolution that lawlessness would not be tolerated, and as the towns of Melbourne, Middleborough, and Victoria swelled, with a continuous flux of immigrants and refugees, the call was for swift and harsh punishment by both the police and the judiciary (Taylor, 2006).
In reflecting on the transition of power and the ongoing development of the Australian police force is that during this period, the industrial revolution was occurring, allowing for the inclusion of technology to reshape community policing. As horses were put in the barn and cars were utilized for patrol, district policing became possible, following the lead of their British counterparts in designating areas of patrol in Australia and assigning the necessary manpower to address hot spots or trends occurring within a given community. This innovative approach is the first look and first generation crime mapping, acknowledging the ability of law enforcement to cover greater areas and bring justice to rural communities that might otherwise have continued to operate without outside intervention and oversight, both in England and Australia (Taylor, 2006).
Elevating the Morality of the Police Force
The morality of the Australian police force was driven by a very harsh and stringent patriarchal society, where between the periods of 1870–1930 and the transition of the police force to becoming an independent organization, the Victorian era and its rigid conformity to class structure and adherence to societal norms were omnipresent in the doling out of justice. As McLaren, (2008) highlights the fact that as social boundaries shifted, allowing for the introduction of new social norms and conduct, with appropriate reinforcement, what is evident is that this new police force sought to maintain order at all cost. In doing so, deviant social conduct operating as variables that would keep the police force occupied and the jails full would be prosecuted to their fullest. In elevating morality, society nor the police would not tolerate deviants (sexual offenders); fools (con men); cads (bigamists); murderers; weaklings; sadists; exhibitionists, and transvestites (McLaren, 2008). In pursuing the lower classes and defining them as social misfits, unworthy of freedom, class structure was adhered to, consequently promoting homogeneity and the submission of law for fear of being classified or thought of as different, and as a result, being prosecuted. This approach ensured a strict morality and code that was enforced by the police, drawing on its customs and approach advanced by England in their evolutionary development and past and continuing submission to class structure. As a result, Australia’s police forces were free to terrorize, harass and prosecute those who fell into these classifications (McLaren, 2008).
In an effort to reduce corruption and allow for enhanced oversight, in 1824 the Office of Sheriff was instituted in New South Wales with its intention to provide oversight on officers locating in rural and remote districts. With corruption becoming an issue during the transition to independence and breaking free from colonial rule, it was essential that the public have a complete and sincere trust in its police force, free from bias and corruption. In an effort to compartmentalize the policing agencies, the end result would be an enhanced oversight and increased transparency which is an ongoing challenge for any large police force that during colonization and post-colonization was centralized to such a degree that its hierarch if corrupt at certain levels would permeate through the ranks (Nettelbeck, & Smandych, 2010).
The Role of Women in the Development of Australia’s Police Force
With Enid Lyons in 1921 being elected to the West Australian Legislative Assembly, and with Australia leading the call for women’s suffrage and the right to vote, a death knell was sounded for the patriarchal nature of Australian police forces throughout the country. Prior to these elections, contributions to policing by women were negligible, citing the harshness of the land and the perpetrators, suggesting this was a job suited only for men. However, with the ability to vote also came the ability to change, with women finding their way into law enforcement first in support roles, such as police telephone operators and secretaries to later taking more proactive positions on the front lines and walking and riding in patrols. There is no confusion or doubt as to the open practices of discrimination practiced by early Australian law enforcement; however, through these progressive movements and times, change has occurred, where now women play an integral role and part in contemporary Australian police forces throughout the nation (Finnane, 2009).
Interview
In an interview with Tonita Murray, The Director of Canada’s Police College conducted by Hogg, R. (2005), she discusses the challenges countries such as Australia, New Zealand, and Canada continue to face, post-colonialism in the management of their police forces. What is noted as central is the ability to identify future challenges while assigning the correct amount of assets, both technological and human, where these strategies continue to emulate from Britain in a big brother exchange. What appears to have been missing and remains an outstanding problem is the full application of independence and the ability for these countries to create new and innovative ideas apart from the established status quo while still retaining the best from that status quo. It is unreasonable, based on this interview and the alternative research that the judicial system and the police force can be restructured to the degree that British influence will be reduced to minimums when the court system and the government is a shadowy reflection and operates in a similar faction. Therefore, it is reasonable that police forces mimic British ideology and policies, and the struggle for independence and autonomy remains outstanding (Australian Federal Police, 2015).
Summary
There has been an overwhelming amount of external change experienced by the Australian Police Force, being born out of the idea of penal facility which has since grown into police force that now oversees population of 23 million. The influence of the British on to the evolution of Australia’s police force is undeniable, accounting for social norms and influences, pursuing class structure and dictates that prosecuted the undesirables, removing them from society. In moving forward, with the women’s right to vote, yet again, the police force, once dominated by men and a patriarchal society has changed, and to its credit, continues to seek and maintain peace through these changes, leading us into contemporary society and the ability to promote and support societal norms which regulate appropriate and law abiding behavior.
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