hey it's Ali advices Brooklyn office the
Australian Aboriginal population is
greatly over-represented in the
country's prisons our Aussie colleagues
spent a night with an indigenous custody
hotline to get a first-hand look this is
hard calls
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do you wanna put on a second
looks like you've been in custody for a
wall sweet phonemic did he leave it was
all right hi Bradley it's over here at
the aboriginal legal service a holding
up
yeah yeah he would happen with you know
I can feel he's taken her and today when
he was shoplifting they knock and him
chemically stay she started to go on the
not again
there was a fielding to be her in our
mall for salt II understand why you at
the police station no I know nothing
about yeah she's getting dumped over
here
can I just ask what he was picked up for
so he's been bailed to win sorry 8th
February at Melbourne match Ringwood no
worries thank you we get all kind of
calls from people who are just scared
every time an indigenous person is
arrested and go through the system in
the police stations
we're notified so it all comes through
to me and I'm on from you know 8 p.m. to
8 a.m. and that 12 hours I'm responsible
for checking on the welfare of these
people it's a big responsibility when
you think about it because if there's
something goes wrong while that person's
in custody you know if they have a
medical issue or you know the worst case
scenarios they die in custody that will
fall back on me as a CSO because I'm the
person responsible to call and check on
the welfare not just a job then why not
accept the challenge and join the
Victoria Police information on becoming
a police officer I've seen I think about
becoming a it's over here the
aboriginal legal service now that's okay
I'll ring you back a bit later we get
that a lot - like why why does it have
to be a service for Aboriginal people
specifically and the and it's the facts
the facts are that Aboriginal people are
you know over-represented in the justice
system hi Michelle it's over here from
the aboriginal legal service are you
going oh yeah not too bad
ah that's busy that's not too bad
yeah boys yeah yeah saris Thanks
the problem with that is that if they're
interviewing them straight away or not
then they don't have access to legal
advice before their interview that's a
problem the understand why you at the
police station
oh yeah hey yeah yeah do you have any
family members you want me to contact
yeah okay man
also did you want some legal advice
because to your interview
um yeah they're great all right so what
I'm going to do any closing with anyone
even right so have you used or anything
today are you in either the influence of
anything at the moment
oh okay so you're having withdrawals or
anything else okay so that's been a key
nice okay so he's sobered up yeah okay
did he want to speak with us at all do
you know not fifteen of you at the
moment because apparently he's too drunk
very odd
no worries we'll call back and be out
for alc I was going okay we have a
pretty good system our workers are
really good with each other we have a
good relationship so if I'm very
stressed or something going on I can
always call Gary who's also senior
worker and he doesn't sleep so the three
of us that work full-time we don't
really sleep that much I'm just calling
I wanted to check in a client of ours
there's brought in them for cream
damaged but I think he was a bit drunk
all right they'll call back a bit later
on it's huge it's a huge job because
Victoria is pretty huge but also
Tasmania as well which we've only just
taken on in the last couple of months
it's just one worker and a solicitor who
are on called you know for 12 hours
by Wednesday Thursday once you've been
on for a few nights you can't even
recognize your own writing because
they're just like a dead pied it's not
just a job like they say on the police
messages um you have to have the passion
for your own people I suppose yeah yeah
what was the outcome was it just on he's
left awesome and you didn't get a ticket
for drunk so that's awesome are you okay
you're just not yeah hold on okay so do
you know why you're there tonight you
just drove it what was gonna happen with
her tonight um at the moment she's our
sort of bit unstable where we're getting
a forensic medical officer to come out
and assess her to see if she's been free
interview I can I want to chat to her
just because I'm oh she should we should
probably not our respective own she's
made now quite violent in the south at
the moment so we're just gonna check on
it do you think she's at risk of
suicidal
oh she hasn't expressed any suicidal
thoughts to me she's screaming a fair
bit and banging on the cell door a
little bit so she's sitting there at the
moment so we can monitor her more
closely
hey I'm just calling um giving you a
courtesy call regarding Melissa just
letting you know that she is currently
at the police station and she's been
arrested yeah why'd I gotta let her out
they're going to interview her so once
she's been interviewed I'll give you a
call back and let you know what's
happening yeah okay doll all right I'll
call you back a bit later okay thank you
hon oh no problems I had a really bad
experience with police in South
Australia where I went into the petrol
station just to get some petrol and
there had been a fight at that station
like five minutes before with Aboriginal
people and the police showed up and they
had said all you black people need to
get out and I said what are you talking
about I've just showed up to pay for
petrol but because I was black I was
immediately associated with everyone
else that was there I was ordered to get
out and if I didn't leave I was going to
be arrested and I had worked as a field
officer at that time so I said I want
your name your badge number and it
wasn't until the next day that it was
like my brother I think I was shocked
because he just walked out with his head
down and I that's my older brother so I
was like are you serious like you just
accepted that so the year that kind of
led me to think well I'd rather work in
with my own people make sure that
doesn't happen because I think that too
often people think that's the way it is
and they accept it and it shouldn't be
accepted
you're okay at the moment yep g-got mum
and dad coming down or someone to come
down you don't know all right
um what I'll do is call back a bit later
and see how you're getting on
she was like you know I'm fine if I was
inflation I'd be like crying my eyes out
but she's like no I'm fine oh my gosh
she's only 14 but this sadly though
that's like not the first time kids
being picked up things like the youngest
one was 10 and he is on ice as well say
yeah that was like awful for Aboriginal
people it's
the history there - back in the day
being being held by police could only
mean about something really bad and I
couldn't speak for everyone but I know
that then it's usually they're afraid to
be locked up by police because it's a
scary thing and it's yeah just um that's
probably one of the biggest issues that
most of our client tabs just being
scared that they're there in custody if
you ask people our age and we're like it
not even 30 yet if we've had a racist
experiences with police nine times out
of ten will say yes we have here Bernal
yeah well she's popped up on our systems
hmm I think she somehow did you wanna
check with her all she here and she he
first like custody Warren yeah that's
all and DHS are assisting her but I'm
not sure that she's Aboriginal yeah
maybe I'm ask her and when we call back
we might see if she yeah see what she
says I think I've had people say how
much Aboriginal are you and I find that
offensive because I wouldn't ask that
person how wide are you they wrote about
my father they said he's a half car so
you know he can integrate with the white
society and he was taken by police and
he was placed in a really bad you know
home for boys and he had a lot of bad
stuff happen on my mom's side her
parents were both taken as well so they
were all taken by police and then trust
of the police is very limited so yeah
but all my brothers and sisters ended up
like working alongside police which is
like dad's worst nightmare like y'all my
kids work with police and he said I'll
never pass it on that's my life not
yours so he's pretty cool we still have
a long way to go in terms of building a
relationship with police
our people feel more protected here
because
their services and they know that
there's someone that's going to call
they know our lawyers are going to chase
them up and they know that if they don't
answer their phone that we will go to
their house and see if their home they
know that but it's all about making
people feel safe and I think that police
recognize that that's an issue too with
our people and that's the first step is
recognizing that yep there's a history
there and we need to start repairing it
and yeah more for that so I'm just going
to go back to sleep until 5 o'clock
probably get up have something to eat
like breakfast and then sleep again
until about 8 o'clock start all over
again and then the guys will take over
during the day and so they'll be
probably pretty busy hi Bri it's over
here at the Victorian Aboriginal legal
service how are you getting there he's
gone is he we just get him a new court
date any monies right no problems thank
you very much ok
you
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