Contact between the police and the regional population is recorded as persons are apprehended by the police (either via arrest or summons), or are diverted (as juveniles) through the cautioning system and referred to juvenile justice teams. Apprehensions data are derived from the police P18 form and describe offences charged by police either via arrest or summons. According to data reported by the CRC for 2001 (Fernandez and Loh 2001: 49), as many as 81.4% of all apprehensions recorded in the Kimberley SD involved charges laid against Aboriginal people (excluding juvenile cautions and minor traffic offences). If the number of Aboriginal apprehensions in the Northern East Kimberley is in proportion to its share of the Aboriginal population of the Kimberley as a whole (28%), then it can be estimated that a total of 1,221 such apprehensions were laid in the study region in 2001.
However, an individual may have more than one apprehension in a given year. Due to the absence of data on the number of distinct persons arrested in the Northern East Kimberley, there is a need for some creativity in applying state-level information to the regional situation. Thus, to estimate the number of distinct Aboriginal persons arrested in the study region, Aboriginal age-specific prevalence arrest rates calculated by the CRC for Western Australia as a whole can be applied to regional ERP data, although, of course, this assumes that these rates are applicable. If we start with the overall Kimberley Aboriginal prevalence arrest rate of 203.7 per thousand in 2000 (Loh and Ferrante 2001: 14), and then apply this to the Northern East Kimberley population in 2001, this produces a total of 642 Aboriginal persons arrested in the region in 2001. This figure can then be distributed according to the implied share of total arrests in each age group based on the statewide age-specific arrest rates. The result is shown in Table 8.4.
The estimated total number of juveniles arrested amounts to 90, with almost as many again in the 18-19 years age group. Most of those arrested (340, or 53%) are between 20 and 34 years of age. This number represents almost one-third (32%) of the regional population between these ages. To put this in a regional economic context, the estimated numbers arrested are far greater than the 202 persons aged between 15 and 34 who are employed in the regional mainstream labour market. Indeed, cross-reference to the relatively poor labour force status of Aboriginal people between the ages of 15 and 34 (see Chapter 3), suggests the likelihood that high arrest rates represent a major barrier to regional participation, which is not surprising given the disruption to labour market engagement that contact with the police and its subsequent consequences imply.
Table 8.4. Estimated distinct Aboriginal persons arrested by age group: Northern East Kimberley, 2001
|
Age group |
Regional Aboriginal population |
WA Aboriginal age-specific arrest ratesa |
Implied % of arrests by age group |
Estimated arrests by age group |
|
10-14 |
516 |
54.2 |
5.0 |
32 |
|
15-17 |
259 |
195.6 |
9.1 |
58 |
|
18-19 |
199 |
320.2 |
11.4 |
73 |
|
20-24 |
385 |
296.6 |
20.5 |
132 |
|
25-29 |
345 |
292.2 |
18.1 |
116 |
|
30-34 |
325 |
245 |
14.3 |
92 |
|
35-39 |
273 |
195.3 |
9.5 |
61 |
|
40-44 |
202 |
147.8 |
5.4 |
34 |
|
45-49 |
178 |
115.8 |
3.7 |
24 |
|
50-54 |
120 |
64.5 |
1.4 |
9 |
|
55-59 |
107 |
54.7 |
1.1 |
7 |
|
60-64 |
78 |
22 |
0.3 |
2 |
|
65-69 |
67 |
13.4 |
0.2 |
1 |
|
70+ |
104 |
5.3 |
0.1 |
1 |
|
Total |
3,158 |
– |
100.0 |
642 |
|
Note:a. From Loh and Ferrante (2001: 13); data refer to 2000 |
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Once again, the supplementary charts to the Aboriginal Justice Council reports provide a window on regional variations in arrest rates within the Kimberley (Loh and Ferrante 2001). From Table 8.5, it can be seen that arrest rates for property offences are exceedingly high among Aboriginal people in the Kununurra area. The rate of Aboriginal arrest for property offences is 60 times higher than the non-Aboriginal rate in this area. The next highest arrest rate is recorded among Aboriginal people in the Halls Creek area, and collectively arrests for property offences are far more likely to occur in the East Kimberley, rather than the West Kimberley.
Table 8.5. Arrest ratesa for property offences by Indigenous status: Kimberley postcodes, 2000
|
|
Broome |
Derby |
Fitzroy Crossing |
Halls Creek |
Kununurra |
Wyndham |
|
Indigenous |
81.7 |
86.4 |
28.3 |
108.1 |
239.0 |
59.6 |
|
Non-Indigenous |
7.9 |
8.3 |
4.6 |
5.6 |
4.1 |
4.3 |
|
Total |
26.4 |
45.1 |
21.4 |
65.4 |
34.3 |
38.5 |
|
Note:a. Rate per 1,000 persons Source: Supplementary tables to Loh and Ferrante 2001 |
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A somewhat similar pattern is evident with regard to arrests for violent offences (Table 8.6) with the Kununurra area standing out as having relatively high arrest rates among Aboriginal people. In this area, the Aboriginal arrest rate for violent offences is 42 times higher than the non-Aboriginal rate. Arrest rates for good order offences refer mostly to trespass and vagrancy. Here again, the Kununurra postcode area records by far the highest rate, as does the East Kimberley region generally (Table 8.7). Aboriginal people in the Kununurra area are 45 times more likely than non-Aboriginal people to be arrested for good order offences.
Table 8.6. Arrest ratesa for violent offences by Indigenous status: Kimberley postcodes, 2000
|
|
Broome |
Derby |
Fitzroy Crossing |
Halls Creek |
Kununurra |
Wyndham |
|
Indigenous |
52.7 |
44.8 |
37.1 |
44.3 |
101.8 |
17.4 |
|
Non-Indigenous |
4.5 |
7.4 |
3.5 |
6.4 |
2.4 |
1.1 |
|
Total |
16.7 |
25.3 |
26.6 |
28.4 |
15.3 |
11.2 |
|
Note: a. Rate per 1,000 persons Source: Supplementary tables to Loh and Ferrante 2001 |
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Table 8.7. Arrest ratesa for good order offences by Indigenous status: Kimberley postcodes, 2000
|
|
Broome |
Derby |
Fitzroy Crossing |
Halls Creek |
Kununurra |
Wyndham |
|
Indigenous |
77.0 |
127.5 |
70.0 |
197.8 |
357.4 |
115.3 |
|
Non-Indigenous |
9.5 |
12.4 |
1.2 |
28.6 |
7.9 |
9.7 |
|
Total |
27.0 |
67.9 |
47.6 |
127.8 |
53.4 |
78.2 |
|
Note: a. Rate per 1,000 persons Source: Supplementary tables to Loh and Ferrante 2001 |
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In East Kimberley postcode areas, a total of 2,201 Aboriginal receivals in police lock-ups were recorded in 2000—a number equivalent to 48% of the region’s Aboriginal population over 10 years of age (Table 8.8). However, it should be noted that the number of receivals exceeds the number of distinct persons, though to what extent is unknown. Of more interest is the fact that more than half (58%) of all 3,805 Aboriginal receivals into police lock-ups recorded for the Kimberley as a whole were reported in the East Kimberley, despite the fact that the East Kimberley share of the wider Kimberley population is only 39%. This spatial imbalance pointing to greater levels of police contact in the East Kimberley is consistent with the much higher arrest rates observed in this region. Together, these indicators suggest that the relative need for crime prevention resources is greater in the East Kimberley, especially in the Kununurra district.
Table 8.8. Numbers of receivals in police lock-ups by Indigenous status: Kimberley postcodes, 2000
|
|
Broome |
Derby |
Fitzroy Crossing |
Halls Creek |
Kununurra |
Wyndham |
|
Indigenous |
752 |
662 |
190 |
1,076 |
893 |
232 |
|
Non-Indigenous |
345 |
52 |
3 |
38 |
117 |
8 |
|
Total |
1,097 |
714 |
193 |
1,114 |
1,010 |
240 |
|
Source: Supplementary tables to Loh and Ferrante 2001 |
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