Law enforcement in Australia is facillitated by
policeA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
,
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
s and
bailiffA bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
s under the control of
stateThe Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states and two major mainland territories. There are also lesser territories that are under the administration of the federal government.- States and Territories:+ Formerly part of ACT...
, territory and the Federal governments. A number of specialist agencies also administer a wide variety of legislation related to
white-collar crimeWithin the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
.
The
police are responsible for the
criminal lawThe term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply...
. The
sheriff, sheriff's deputies and bailiffs in each state and territory are responsible for the enforcement of the judgments of the courts exercising
civil law (common law)Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
jurisdictions.
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
there are two distinct, but similar levels of police force, the various
state policeState police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
forces and the
Australian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP).
Law enforcement in Australia is facillitated by
policeA police service is a public force empowered to enforce the law and provide security through the legitimized use of force.The term is most commonly associated with police services of a state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of...
,
sheriffA sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
s and
bailiffA bailiff is a governor or custodian ; a legal officer to whom some degree of authority, care or jurisdiction is committed...
s under the control of
stateThe Commonwealth of Australia is made up of six states and two major mainland territories. There are also lesser territories that are under the administration of the federal government.- States and Territories:+ Formerly part of ACT...
, territory and the Federal governments. A number of specialist agencies also administer a wide variety of legislation related to
white-collar crimeWithin the field of criminology, white-collar crime has been defined by Edwin Sutherland as "a crime committed by a person of respectability and high social status in the course of his occupation" . Sutherland was a proponent of Symbolic Interactionism, and believed that criminal behavior was...
.
The
police are responsible for the
criminal lawThe term criminal law, sometimes called penal law, refers to any of various bodies of rules in different jurisdictions whose common characteristic is the potential for unique and often severe impositions as punishment for failure to comply...
. The
sheriff, sheriff's deputies and bailiffs in each state and territory are responsible for the enforcement of the judgments of the courts exercising
civil law (common law)Civil law, as opposed to criminal law, is the branch of law dealing with disputes between individuals and/or organizations, in which compensation may be awarded to the victim...
jurisdictions.
In
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
there are two distinct, but similar levels of police force, the various
state policeState police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
forces and the
Australian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP). T state police forces are responsible for enforcing state law within their own states (including cities within the states) while the AFP are responsible for the investigation of crimes against Commonwealth law which occurs throughout the nation. The AFP also have responsibility for a community policing role (similar to the state police) in Commonwealth territories such as the Australian Capital Territory. The boundaries between the two levels of law enforcement are somewhat flexible and both state and federal police co-operate on or transfer cases between each other depending on the specific circumstances.
The AFP also provide Liaison Officers to various overseas posts to assist in relations with various police forces overseas, as well as providing commnunity policing officers to assist in the development of local law enforcement agencies and peacekeeping operations in locations such as the Solomon Islands with the RAMSI mission and Cyprus for example. The AFP is only 25 years old having been borne out of the old Commonwealth Police whilst the various State Police Forces were established in the 1800s.
Commonwealth policing and law enforcement agencies
- Australian Federal Police
The Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP)
- Australian Crime Commission
The Australian Crime Commission was established when the Australian Crime Commission Act came into effect on 1 January 2003.It is an amalgamtion of the former National Crime Authority, the Australian Bureau of Criminal Intelligence and the Office of Strategic Criminal Assessment...
(ACC)
Commonwealth agencies with a law enforcement responsibility
- Australian Customs Service
The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service is the Australian Federal Government agency responsible for managing the security and integrity of the Australian border, facilitating the movement of legitimate international travellers and goods, and collecting border related duties and...
(ACS)
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is an independent authority of the government of Australia. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Trade Practices Commission and the Prices Surveillance Authority to administer the Trade Practices Act 1974...
(ACCC)
- Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service
The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service is the Australian government agency responsible for enforcing Australian quarantine laws...
(AQIS)
- Australian Securities and Investments Commission
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission is an independent Australian government body that acts as Australia's corporate regulator...
(ASIC)
- Australian Taxation Office
The Australian Taxation Office is the principal revenue collection agency for the Australian Government, in charge of administering the Australian taxation system. The Australian Taxation Office is not a legal entity...
(ATO)
National Common Policing Services
The Australasian Police Professional Standards Comitee (APPSC) was an organisation that served all Police Jurisdictions around Australia and New Zealand. APPSC was the peak body for police education and training in Australia and New Zealand, the Council comprising each of the Police Commissioners from Australia and New Zealand along with the President of the Police Federation of Australia and the President of the New Zealand Police Association. On 9 November 2007, APPSC Directorate was closed and the roles and functions were amalgamated into the ANZPAA.They roles play an important role and represent the country's auhorisation
Crime StoppersCrime Stoppers is a community policing initiative that commenced operation in the Australian state of Victoria in 1987, it has been operating Australia wide since 1998....
programs run in each state and nationally. Crime Stoppers collects information about crime and passes it on to the police ensuring that the community can participate in crime fighting.
CrimTrack is an intergovernmental policing agency that supports Australian policing through the provision of forensick and other information and investigative tools between State and Federal Police Departments. The
National Automated Fingerprint Identification SystemThe National Automated Fingerprint Identification System was established in Australia in 1986, an upgraded system commenced operations in April 2001 and provides technological improvements in fingerprint matching for use by law enforcement agencies....
(NAFIS) is national
fingerprintA fingerprint is an impression of the friction ridges on all parts of the finger. A friction ridge is a raised portion of the epidermis on the palmar or digits or plantar skin, consisting of one or more connected ridge units of friction ridge skin...
database, administered by CrimTrack.
The Australasian Institute of Policing (AiPol)
The Australasian Institute of Policing is a non-industrial, not-for-profit incorporated association that has been established by practitioners, for practitioners to further the policing profession and is therefore independent from police employers, government and the various industrial bodies.
The Institute has been established with the object to:
- promote the policing profession;
- promote professional practice standards within the policing profession;
- endorse education related to the policing profession;
- certify individual police practitioners;
- develop, promote and encourage ethical standards of policing practice;
- to facilitate the sharing of research and information as to best practice policing;
- to enhance public confidence in the police profession and the service provided to the public by members of the policing profession; and
- to promote professional mobility of police practitioners.
The Institute provides various levels of membership including Associate Member, Member and Fellow and is open to all current and previous serving Australian and New Zealand police employees (both sworn and non-sworn. Similar to other Institutes (eg Institute of Medicine, Engineering etc), the underpinning rationale is the sharing of knowledge, research and practice between police practitioners to ultimately provide a better policing service to the Australian and New Zealand communities.
State
Each State as well as the
Northern TerritoryThe Northern Territory is a federal territory of Australia, occupying much of the centre of the mainland continent, as well as the central northern regions...
is responsible for maintaining its own police force which is responsible for policing at the state and local level. This involves general law and order, traffic policing, major crime, anti-terrorism branches, water police, search and rescue and in some states transit police. Local policing in the
Australian Capital TerritoryThe Australian Capital Territory is the capital territory of the Commonwealth of Australia and its smallest self-governing internal territory. It is an inland enclave in New South Wales, and regularly referred to as Australia's 'Bush Capital'....
,
Jervis Bay TerritoryThe Jervis Bay Territory is a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia. It was bought by the Commonwealth Government in 1915 from the state of New South Wales so that the Federal capital at Canberra would have access to the sea...
and Australia's external territories is contracted to the
Australian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
(AFP).
In some states,
local governmentLocal governments are administrative office that are smaller than a state. The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government....
s employ by-laws officers or rangers to enforce local by-laws or
ordinanceA local ordinance is a law usually found in a municipal code.-United States:In the United States, these laws are enforced locally in addition to state law and federal law.-Japan:...
s relating to such matters as parking, dog ownership, retailing, littering or water usage. These local government officers are not considered to be police forces as they generally only have the power to issue fines and do not have the same powers as state police. They may rely upon appointment as a
Special ConstableA special constable is a law enforcement officer who is not a regular member of a police force. Some like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police carry the same law enforcement powers as regular members, but are employed in specific roles, such as explosive disposal technicians, court security, or...
or legislated powers for their authority.
Policing agencies
State policeState police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
also perform certain functions on behalf of the Australian Government such as the enforcement of various Commonwealth Acts and Regulations in conjunction with the Australian Federal Police and other Commonwealth officers.
While the
Australian Capital Territory PoliceThe Australian Capital Territory Police was an independent police force responsible for policing the Australian Capital Territory jurisdiction of mainland Australia until 19 October 1979. On this date the agency was merged with the Australian Government's Commonwealth Police agency to become the...
is under the jurisdiction of the
Australian Federal PoliceThe Australian Federal Police is the federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. Although the AFP was created by the amalgamation in 1979 of three Commonwealth law enforcement agencies, it traces its history from Commonwealth law enforcement agencies dating back to the federation of...
, the following policing agencies are regulated by their respective State or Territory Government and are highly visible:
- New South Wales Police Force
- Northern Territory Police
The Northern Territory Police is the police body that has legal jurisdiction over the Northern Territory of Australia. This police service has 1081 gazetted police positions made up of 41 Senior Sergeants, 134 Sergeants, 31 Brevet Sergeants, 612 Constables, 141 Auxiliaries, and 63 Aboriginal...
- Queensland Police Service
- South Australia Police
The South Australia Police is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. It is an agency of the Government of South Australia within the South Australian Department of Justice....
- Tasmania Police
Tasmania Police is the police force of the Australian state of Tasmania. Established in 1899, the force has over 1,200 officers policing Tasmania's population of about half a million people.-Structure:...
- Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of Victoria, Australia. , the Victoria Police has over 11,100 personnel along with over 2,400 civilian staff across 339 police stations.-Early history:...
- Western Australia Police
The Western Australia Police services an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction. In 2008, its 7,526 employees include 5,647 police officers.-History:-Early history:...
Sheriffs
In recent years, the states and territories have returned the responsibility of recovering court ordered fines to their sheriffs. In practice, the police often carry out the functions of sheriffs and bailiffs in the country and more sparsely populated areas of Australia.
Transportation
By agreement between the various Commissioners, Australian police cars are predominantly white with a blue and white checkered strip on the side (the Sillitoe Tartan). Some jurisdictions also have fluorescent orange stripes surrounding the tartan. Most general patrol cars are
Holden CommodoreThe Holden Commodore is an automobile manufactured by the Holden division of General Motors in Australia, and, formerly, in New Zealand. In the mid-1970s, Holden established proposals to replace the long-serving Kingswood nameplate with a smaller, Opel-based model. Opel continued to provide the...
s and Ford Falcons. Prisoner transport vehicles are based on light commercial vehicles such as the
Holden RodeoThe Holden Rodeo is a utility vehicle that was sold in Australia and New Zealand by Holden, a General Motors subsidiary. The Rodeo was built by Isuzu between 1980 and 2008, being replaced by the Holden Colorado....
, Holden Crewman or Mercedes Vito. Highway Patrol vehicles are higher performance sedans, often in colours other than white. Emergency lights on police vehicles are now generally blue and red; historically though, blue lights were used for police vehicles and red lights for fire engines and ambulances.
Police are now increasingly employing the use of a diverse range unmarked police cars. These vehicles include the
Chrysler 300CThe Chrysler Corporation has used the designation Chrysler 300C to refer to two different vehicles, which are described in separate articles.* The 1957 Chrysler 300C, that year's version of the Chrysler 300 "letter series"; a large, high-performance luxury coupe sold in very limited numbers.* The...
,
Toyota AurionThe Toyota Aurion, is a mid-size car produced by Toyota in Australia and parts of Asia since 2006. The Aurion, given the model designation GSV40R, is essentially a Toyota Camry with revised front- and rear-end treatment, along with changes to the interior...
,
Toyota Land CruiserThe is a series of four-wheel drive vehicles produced by the Japanese car maker Toyota Motor Corporation. Design of the Land Cruiser began in 1951 as Toyota's version of a Jeep-like vehicle and production began in 1954. The Land Cruiser has been produced in convertible, hardtop, station wagon, and...
,
Toyota CorollaThe Corolla is a line of subcompact/compact cars manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota, which has become very popular throughout the world since the nameplate was first introduced in 1966. In 1997, the Corolla became the best selling nameplate in the world, with over 35 million sold as of...
, Ford and Holden Ute,
Holden MonaroThe Monaro is an automobile which was produced by Holden, the Australian branch of General Motors from 1968 to 1977 and then re-introduced onto the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2001. It was discontinued in late 2005...
,
Holden CommodoreThe Holden Commodore is an automobile manufactured by the Holden division of General Motors in Australia, and, formerly, in New Zealand. In the mid-1970s, Holden established proposals to replace the long-serving Kingswood nameplate with a smaller, Opel-based model. Opel continued to provide the...
, Ford Falcon,
Ford FocusFord Focus can refer to two models of a car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company:* Ford Focus * Ford Focus , the model sold in the United States and Canada....
XR5,
Ford TerritoryThe Ford Territory is a crossover SUV built by Ford Australia and based on the EA169 platform of the Ford BA Falcon. It was released in April 2004. Its code name inside Ford was E265. It won the 2004 Wheels Car of the Year award, the reviewers praising car-like handling and practicality as reasons...
,
Subaru Impreza WRXThe Subaru Impreza WRX is a turbocharged version of the Subaru Impreza, an all-wheel drive automobile. It is available as a sedan or wagon....
,
Nissan PatrolThe Nissan Safari is a four-wheel drive vehicle manufactured by Nissan in Japan since 1980. Outside of Japan, it is known as the Nissan Patrol—a name carried over from the Safari's predecessor. The car is available in Australasia, Central and South America, South Africa, parts of Southeast Asia and...
,
Hummer H3The HUMMER H3 SUV is a vehicle from General Motors' Hummer division introduced in 2006 and based on the GMT355 that underpins the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon compact pickup trucks. Currently produced at GM's Shreveport, Louisiana factory and the Port Elizabeth plant in South Africa the H3 is...
,
Volkswagen GolfThe Volkswagen Golf is a hatchback / small family car manufactured by Volkswagen since 1974 and marketed worldwide across six generations, in various body configurations and under various nameplates -- prominently as the Volkswagen Rabbit in the United States and Canada , and as the Volkswagen...
and other popular and commonly seen vehicles in Australia.
Most Australian police services have mounted police units which are prominently used for ceremonial purposes, although in states like
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
,
South AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
,
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
and
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
the mounted police also undertake operational policing duties on a daily basis.
See also
- Australian court hierarchy
There are two streams within the hierarchy of Australian courts, the federal stream and the state and territory stream. While the federal courts and the court systems in each state and territory are separate, the High Court of Australia remains the ultimate court of appeal for the Australian...
- List of Australian prisons
Issues:
- Crime in Australia
-Convicts:During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...
- Terrorism in Australia
Terrorism in Australia is defined as "an action or threat of action where the action causes certain defined forms of harm or interference and the action is done or the threat is made with the intention of advancing a political, religious or ideological cause"...
External links