Journal Article

Policing 'suspect communities': evidence from the Police Gazette of Western Australia

Abstract

While scholars have recognised the postcolonial legacies of targeted policing practices in Australia, there has been more limited engagement with how this type of policing operated in practice in historical context. By examining evidence from the Police Gazette of Western Australia (1876-1908), supported by police court reports from newspapers, this article suggests that policing in this period was concerned with exercising power over targeted communities and groups. In particular, policing was directed towards three ‘suspect communities’: convicts and former convicts, Indigenous Australians and non-European immigrants. This policing had both immediate and longer-term impacts for individuals and communities, and the impacts have been transmitted through generations and collective memories to the present day. The police targeting practices highlighted here are foundational to the institution of policing, and need to be fully understood if we want to begin to unpick deep-rooted police stereotyping practices.

Authors

Bland, Eleanor

Oxford Brookes departments

School of Law and Social Sciences

Dates

Year of publication: Not yet published
Date of RADAR deposit: 2024-06-26

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