Police in NSW are being urged to sharpen and better monitor policies aimed at improving relations with Indigenous people and reducing Aboriginal incarceration rates. The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has investigated the force's strategy and found its priorities were too broad. "The measures for each of the four priority areas could be clarified to make it easier to evaluate whether activities achieved their intended objectives," the watchdog said in a report published on Monday. The areas cover ensuring community safety, enhancing communication and understanding, addressing Indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice system, and working with First Nations young people. The watchdog found many measures were not reported because the NSW Police Force did not own the data used to monitor success. Its report tracked progress between 2018 and 2023. "The years that we reviewed included some exceptional challenges. Bushfires, COVID, and then flooding. And they devastated communities," Commissioner Anina Johnson said. The report contained 12 recommendations and urged police to better outline the actions needed to achieve Closing the Gap targets. The watchdog's chief commissioner Peter Johnson SC said the force should outline how it would achieve change and publish a delivery plan. "We know that the NSW Police Force's role is to enforce the law," he said. "At the same time, police should be doing everything possible to ensure their actions are consistent with the NSW government's Closing the Gap priorities and targets." The watchdog found the force did not have a systematic approach to rating the impact of its activities, but identified some positives. It highlighted the value of Aboriginal community liaison officers and called on the force to employ more of them. "Aboriginal community liaison officers are highly valued by the NSW Police Force and are key to promoting the purpose of the Aboriginal strategic direction," the watchdog said. Police were encouraged to revisit their policies on officers using discretion and issuing diversions in order to reduce Indigenous incarceration rates. Ms Johnson said there was still a lot of work to be done. "In a number of areas of policing work, we saw that policing interactions with Aboriginal people were disproportionately high," she said. "We've asked the NSW police force to reflect on its policies and practices to address this over-representation." Lawyers, magistrates and liaison officers, plus representatives from the Aboriginal Legal Service were interviewed as part of the report. Australian Associated Press
