WEBVTT - This is Alice Springs: The coppers 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:04.560 Just a warning. Today's episode discusses traumatic events and refers 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:09.520 to deceased Aboriginal people and contains offensive language. It's also 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:12.640 the second episode in a three part series. If you 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.640 haven't yet, go listen to episode one, Children of the Intervention. 0:00:20.600 --> 0:00:23.720 You see a lot of cops here in pursuit vehicles, 0:00:23.880 --> 0:00:26.200 driving the caged divisional van to get in this part 0:00:26.200 --> 0:00:29.240 of the world, or checking the IDs as people line 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:32.159 up outside the bottle shop in the town's main shopping center. 0:00:33.000 --> 0:00:35.680 It feels like they're everywhere, and the numbers back up 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.120 what the eyes can see. For every one hundred thousand 0:00:39.120 --> 0:00:41.919 people in the Northern Territory, there are seven hundred and 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:46.920 thirty cops, almost triple the national average. We spoke to 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:50.120 Uncle Brian in the last episode, along with Damien and 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.480 his eighteen year old son Bison. They represent three generations 0:00:54.480 --> 0:00:57.320 of Arunda men, all of whom have had their own 0:00:57.360 --> 0:01:01.160 experiences with the territory and police. It doesn't make you 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.160 feel like when you're walking down the street and you 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:07.240 see a police fan head towards you, it's. 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.160 Like sad sort of thing, you know, because you know 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:13.679 they're looking at you, they're targeting you. Who's actually one 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:15.080 black color. They're watching you. 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:16.760 They're getting a little bit overboard. 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.200 To be honest, everywhere I go in l Springs, locals 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.560 tell me about interactions they've had with the cops. Not 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.120 everyone wants to say it into a microphone, but the 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:30.039 stories are similar, stories about violent cops and about not 0:01:30.160 --> 0:01:31.600 feeling safe in their own town. 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.280 Yeah, that you talk about murder, They've killed a lot 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:36.600 of people. 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:39.600 They killed a lot of people, especially our people, black people. 0:01:39.760 --> 0:01:41.920 Nothing in the orditary nobody was found guilty. 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.039 Uncle Brian's talking about the fact that since the point 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.120 of first contact between black and white people on this continent, 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:51.800 thousands of Aboriginal people have died in custody and not 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:55.000 a single law enforcement official has ever been convicted. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:57.480 You know, they walk around saying about gangs in the 0:01:57.560 --> 0:01:59.400 town and all this, and that, who's the gangs? We're 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.080 not the gang. Who's the ones we're in a badge 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.440 linked up to another association, not another badge. They're the 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:10.840 ones with their game because they're the ones where their uniform. 0:02:10.880 --> 0:02:14.360 The broken relationship between the police and locals isn't just 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:18.080 conjecture on the streets of Alice Springs. It's acknowledged by 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.440 the INNT Police Commissioner who earlier this year apologized to 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:25.079 Aboriginal Territorians for the harm caused by his organization. 0:02:26.680 --> 0:02:30.359 So today, as the police commissioner on the Northern Territory, 0:02:31.080 --> 0:02:38.760 I unagreeably say sorry Orratorians in the past Hans and 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:43.160 the injustices caused, or members of the Northern Territory Police. 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:46.919 I want to understand how things got to this point, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.520 whether it's possible to mend all the broken pieces splintering 0:02:50.560 --> 0:02:54.320 the community here. To begin to find meaning, I'd need 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:57.320 to speak to the police themselves and the arrunder woman 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.520 tasked with changing the culture within the force and trying 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.480 to rebuild the relationship between her organization and her people. 0:03:09.120 --> 0:03:13.440 I'm Daniel James, and you're listening to seven AM. This 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:18.800 is Alice Springs Episode two The Coppers. This episode was 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:27.200 first published in October last year. There's one story that 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:30.280 sums up where things stand between the cops and the community. 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.880 Here is twenty twenty two. Police officer Zachary Rolf has 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:36.840 just been acquitted for the murder of a nineteen year 0:03:36.840 --> 0:03:40.600 old wolpery man Come and Jie Walker. There were no 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:44.640 Indigenous people on the jury it was overwhelmingly white. His 0:03:44.720 --> 0:03:47.120 family had waited years for a verdict, and when it 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:49.440 finally came, they were left reeling. 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:51.480 Toe day is not a very. 0:03:53.520 --> 0:03:55.480 It's not a really a happy day for us. 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:57.800 It's another sad day. 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.400 Standing on the step to the Supreme Court and Alice 0:04:01.400 --> 0:04:06.280 springs their palpable grief, their anger and the deep despair 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:09.600 showed the chasm that had grown between the police and 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:14.800 the Aboriginal community. This is Senior walprialda ned jump, a 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:15.840 jump of hard graves. 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:28.640 I just say, when we are going to get justice, when. 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:36.760 No guns in the Row remote community, we I want 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:47.640 no guns. Enough is enough, It's gonna stop. 0:04:49.680 --> 0:04:52.840 When he killed him and Jie Walker, Zachary Roll fired 0:04:52.880 --> 0:04:56.240 three shots during an attempt to arrest him. Walker was 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:59.600 holding a pair of scissors at the time. A community 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.120 officer who'd arrested Walker many times before said he'd never 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:05.880 known him to resist arrest. He said, Walk out been 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.960 in town for his granddad's funeral and it was agreed 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.080 that he'd hand himself in after that, but he didn't 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:15.640 get the chance to do that. A subsequent coronial inquest 0:05:15.839 --> 0:05:18.840 into Walker's death took two years to run. Another two 0:05:18.920 --> 0:05:22.719 years in the life of Walker's family finishing earlier this year. 0:05:23.200 --> 0:05:26.440 The inquest revealed that Zachary Ralph had been involved in 0:05:26.520 --> 0:05:30.280 forty six use of force incidents in his three years 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:34.880 and Alice Springs. One of the videos from his own 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.960 body cam was the arrest of a fourteen year old. 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:41.600 The kid jumps in a wheelie bin, Ralph kicks the 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:51.320 bin over while with child's inside. Soon, an internal investigation 0:05:51.400 --> 0:05:54.800 found his use of force was not excessive, but during 0:05:54.839 --> 0:05:58.800 the inquest, Rolph gave Frank a wide ranging testimony on 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.520 the culture within the Northern Territory Police Force. The testimony 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:05.280 would reveal what many had assumed for a long time. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:09.400 A culture of widespread racism exists within the force. 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:14.279 A series of explosive text messages downloaded from Constable Zachary 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:18.000 Rolf's pione following his arrest in twenty nineteen have been 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:22.240 read aloud to the court the current sergeant in charge. 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.400 Revelations with Nowhere to Hide in the form of testimony 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.240 and texts from police officers presented to the inquest for 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:30.400 all the world to see. 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.080 An unnamed officer texted Rolf saying, who'd you had a 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:39.280 rough arvo? Yesterday, grubby constable role replying referring to Indigenous 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.800 people as in another message to. 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:49.760 The level of racism was palpable because there was the 0:06:49.839 --> 0:06:52.839 text messages shared between the police officers that were involved 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:54.400 in the operation and. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:58.599 John Lawrence sc is the former president of the nt 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:02.600 Bar Association. He touched down in the territory via Melbourne 0:07:02.640 --> 0:07:05.880 from Edinburgh in the eighties at the same time the 0:07:05.960 --> 0:07:09.120 Royal Commission into Death and Custody was happening, and for 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:14.360 nearly four decades he's represented Aboriginal people in the intejustice system. 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.600 Even after all that time, witnessing Territory police up close 0:07:19.360 --> 0:07:21.280 that inquest was still shocking. 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:25.120 And then a coming out at the same inquest, we 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:29.400 discovered that the same group had these annual Christmas dinners 0:07:29.520 --> 0:07:36.200 where they gave out awards which were horrendously blatantly Alabama 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:40.480 stale racis with Coon of the Year award and you know, 0:07:40.640 --> 0:07:44.760 blacking up stuff. I mean stuff that you know, honestly, 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:48.239 I didn't think that we had descended to that level. 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:51.560 John takes the long view when he says that the 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:55.640 fractured relationship between the police and Aboriginal communities has always 0:07:55.640 --> 0:07:59.360 been a byproduct of colonization, but things really kicking the 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:00.600 gear during the intervention. 0:08:01.760 --> 0:08:04.120 When the Intervention came in, one of the things that 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:08.920 they spent millions on was setting up police stations in 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:13.160 communities that previously didn't have any. Now, if you put 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:17.640 a police station anywhere which was previously apparently crying free, 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.120 you're going to end up within six months with a 0:08:20.120 --> 0:08:23.560 lot of people arrested in chats with criminal offenses. I mean, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.560 I've joked that if I was an Aboriginal person in 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:29.520 twenty twenty four, I wouldn't even walk past the courthouse 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:33.760 because there's some kind of hoovering vacuum mechanism that could 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.560 suck you in the front door, put you in a dock, 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.920 and then put you down into the cells below, and 0:08:39.960 --> 0:08:42.360 you're in the black Maria van and off to jail 0:08:42.440 --> 0:08:47.800 you go. It's just that's how effective efficient our system 0:08:47.880 --> 0:08:50.440 has become. It's crazy shit. 0:08:51.600 --> 0:08:54.040 Let's talk about the nuts and bolts of it a 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.760 little bit. What happens when a kid is arrested. 0:08:57.800 --> 0:09:01.160 What happens, percisely, what happens to original kids is that 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:03.720 they get taken the court and they will be let's 0:09:03.720 --> 0:09:07.640 say tried, Now, what they are entitled to, like you 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.760 and I, is due process, which includes, as your bastions, 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.160 the presumption of innocence, the honess of proof being on 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.520 the state which is beyond reasonable doubt, and it has 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.719 to be based on real admissible evidence. Now, these are 0:09:21.760 --> 0:09:26.800 the standard protections and safeguards that our system has in 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:31.880 order to prevent injustice and wrongful convictions, but none of 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.559 them really have any application. If you're a seventeen year 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:39.440 old Aboriginal kid who's up for breaking entry or stealing cars, 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.960 you're just whisked through a system at one hundred mile 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:43.360 an hour. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:48.400 Kids are represented by crumbling legal eyed services, stretched beyond 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.920 their limits by all restrictions. Pystine kids aren't met because 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.599 they can't be met, and so around seventy percent of 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.440 kids who are in detention are on remand presumed innocent 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.440 under the law, but locked up nonetheless, and they end 0:10:02.559 --> 0:10:03.840 up in places locked Dondale. 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.760 This is the vision that has sent shockwaves around the world. 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:12.079 This was not filmed in Gontanamo Bay or North Korea. 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:15.680 This was filmed in the Northern Territory in our own country. 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.680 The events at the Dondale Center that were set out 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:23.920 on four corners shocked and appalled Australians, and we are 0:10:23.960 --> 0:10:26.319 dealing with it with a Royal commission. 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:31.560 Dondale used detention center, the one Malcolm Tamble would eventually 0:10:31.679 --> 0:10:34.800 establish a Royal Commission over, was built in ninety one 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:38.040 specifically to lock up kids between the ages of ten 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.240 and seventeen, Some sentence to serve time there, others held 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:46.040 there on romand The facility is in Darwin, but kids 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.280 from El Springs are often shipped there, fifteen hours up 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.960 the road, away from home, their families and all they know. 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:56.720 Most are Aboriginal. In fact, nearly eighty two percent of 0:10:56.720 --> 0:11:00.360 inmates in NTA prison are Aboriginal, even though they only 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:04.760 make up thirty percent of the anti population. At times 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:08.600 one hundred percent of all youth incarcerated here have been Aboriginal. 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.240 John remembers the first time a case of a kid 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:15.040 at don Dale was handed to him. All his years 0:11:15.080 --> 0:11:17.920 of experience couldn't prepare him for what he saw happening there. 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:21.439 No sooner had I first discovered it than I realized 0:11:22.080 --> 0:11:25.280 that this had been going on for years, and it 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.200 was still going on, and it was like a boil 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.200 that needed to be burst. That stuff for stuff that 0:11:31.280 --> 0:11:35.280 was going on in Dndale which was exposed by full 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:42.400 Corners was torture and abuse, solitary confinement, assault, psychological batterings, 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:44.760 all of that none more. 0:11:45.120 --> 0:11:47.000 What does that do to kids saved? There's a kid 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:48.520 that's been a don Dale and they end that back 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.440 on the streets of somewhere like Alice Springs. What did 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:53.680 they go back as worse? 0:11:54.040 --> 0:11:59.640 Their trauma and their injuries and damage are compounded, So 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:03.480 i'm are more injured than they went in and they 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:07.080 haven't been reabilitate in any each yep or form. So 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:10.080 they just go back to where they came from and 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:15.560 the sacle goes on. It's this sacle of perpetuation, which 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.920 is really what the legal situation here is. 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.439 Kids are made worse by a failing justice system. Some 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:26.959 kids bend to its will, others are broken by it. 0:12:27.800 --> 0:12:30.240 If they do come out the other side, often the 0:12:30.280 --> 0:12:32.840 cycle they're in is all they've known and all they 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:36.840 will know. That cycle starts and ends with the Coppers, 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.800 a cycle that extends through its one hundred and fifty 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.840 four year history, which leads to the police Commissioner rising 0:12:43.840 --> 0:12:46.160 to his feet at Garma to make this apology. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:50.520 I know that I cannot change or the past, and 0:12:50.600 --> 0:12:54.840 as the police Emissioner, alongside with our police officers, we 0:12:54.920 --> 0:12:58.280 can commit to not repeat mistakes and the injustices of 0:12:58.400 --> 0:13:02.840 the past. All the territory police need to be accountable. 0:13:03.120 --> 0:13:05.520 One of the past treatment of original people. 0:13:07.000 --> 0:13:10.200 Standing next to the Commissioner was rund a woman, Leanne Little. 0:13:11.240 --> 0:13:13.040 This is the cop who's been given the job of 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:16.800 mending the relationship between the police and her people, the 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.520 woman who has to take the apology and make it count. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:21.200 So what's their plan? 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:22.319 Ready? 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:49.760 Yeah, Okay, that's after the break. 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:55.000 So it's marine about a quarters to wait in the morning, 0:13:55.240 --> 0:14:00.679 and we are on our way to the well. The 0:14:00.720 --> 0:14:03.680 police headquarter is here in Alice Springs to speak to 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:08.439 Leanne Little, and we're speaking to her at a time 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.320 when the Chief Commissioner has just made an apology to 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:17.840 the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory and she has 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.600 now been charged with basically changing the culture of the 0:14:21.720 --> 0:14:28.520 force to address things like systemic racism, interpersonal racism, racial profiling. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:31.440 I think, without a shadow of a doubt you could 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:35.320 easily say it's the most difficult and challenging job within 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:40.560 the force itself, and the relations between the Aboriginal community 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:43.880 here and antique police are probably at an all time light. 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:49.080 Alice Springs Police Station looks like a typical municipal building 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:53.080 from the eighties, non threatening but imposing in a town 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.960 of this size. It's only once you're inside it feels 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:01.480 like a cop shop. Protective glass shielding the front counter, 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.720 interview rooms to the left, a limited access to anywhere 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.640 beyond that. As we wait to be shown to a 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:14.160 room to record the interview, Leanne arrives and signs in Daniel, Daniel, 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:18.960 I knowed. She takes time to speak to the constable 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:22.720 behind the glass, an Aboriginal man. She gives him her 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.160 contact details and tells him to stay in touch. We're 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:28.120 shown into a small office somewhere in the heart of 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:32.480 the building. Okay, we're ready to roll. First of all, Leanne, 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.360 thank you very much for your time. Know how busy 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:40.080 you are as we sit here now in twenty twenty four, 0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.960 just at the start of your journey in this role. 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.560 Would you say that the Northern Territory Police is a 0:15:45.600 --> 0:15:46.480 racist institution. 0:15:47.600 --> 0:15:54.440 No. I see some individuals that have been racist, and 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.360 I see a lot of good officers that need more 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.840 good offices around them, and I see a system where 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:08.040 those good officers need tools to be able to make 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:11.320 sure that those people who have behaviors because usually with 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.400 the racism, people are sexist as well, people are homophobic. 0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:20.920 So it's a combination of attitudes, not just one alone. 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.280 So you know, it needs to be everything that needs 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:25.320 to be tackled. 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.400 So do you think that the original community of our 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:32.280 springs trust the police as we sit here at the moment. 0:16:32.840 --> 0:16:34.600 I think there's a lot of work to be done. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:38.680 I think there's a lot of tangible outcomes that need 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:42.680 to be seen on the ground before people regain that 0:16:42.840 --> 0:16:47.920 trust in police. People should feel that when they call 0:16:48.000 --> 0:16:50.880 for police, and when police attend as an offender or 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.000 a victim, that they're getting the service that they deserve. 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:59.200 Leanne was born and raised in Alice Springs. Her data 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:03.840 was a construction and mum a school counselor. It was 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.560 a safe upbringing with food on the table. Her parents 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:11.200 often took kids in. Leanne was told not to ask questions, 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.480 just to make them feel welcome. It's something that used 0:17:14.480 --> 0:17:17.160 to happen a lot when there was no wrong door 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.200 for a kid to walk through. If they needed to 0:17:19.200 --> 0:17:24.480 get help from within their own community. So what was 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.640 some of your first interactions with the police in ol Springs? 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:33.919 It was assistant commissioner was His name was Sauce Grant 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:41.800 and he was my athletics coach and amazing man. And 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.840 I actually didn't realize he was Assistant commission until I 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:47.600 was in my teenage years, because I think I would 0:17:47.640 --> 0:17:49.440 have run faster if I knew it was a placement. 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:51.600 What was your event? 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.680 I was a sprinter sprinter and he always used to 0:17:55.720 --> 0:17:57.399 say to me that he thought I could make it 0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:01.199 to the Olympics and if horses and boyfriends sticking it 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:02.320 in the way, I might have gone there. 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.400 The way things used to be has clearly informed how 0:18:06.440 --> 0:18:09.800 she's trying to address the issues confronting her people. As 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:12.040 a young woman, she wanted to join the police force 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:15.240 to instigate change, to run towards it. 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:19.040 My parents wouldn't let me join the ORDINARYOI police force, ironically, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.199 so that's why I sound Australia. So they said, you 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.520 can go to the border. Do you know nobody there? 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.240 Off you go? And they thought, because. 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:28.320 You don't want to be you don't want to be 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:31.399 arresting family members and causing trouble for your. 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.960 Mob, and they at that time said the nun changed 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.760 police force is racist and they didn't want me to 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:40.720 experience that, so off I went. I hadn't ever seen 0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:44.399 the traffic light before, let learn around about, so things 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.679 were very different for me down there. It was very lonely. 0:18:49.920 --> 0:18:52.560 There's a photo over there from that time, leaning on 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.160 a police car with the Adelaide skyline behind her. She's 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.359 proudly wearing a police uniform, blue skirt, blue jumper and 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.600 a big smile on her face. But being a black 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:06.520 copper was never going to be easy. The picture doesn't 0:19:06.520 --> 0:19:08.639 come close to portraying the reality of what she was 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.800 experiencing and what was ahead. Why did you decide to leave? 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:20.159 I get injured on duty, had a terrible accident and 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.560 ended up sort of having to re evaluate my life. 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:29.919 And then at that same time I outlined some to 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:32.119 the lawyer at the times and missions of racism and 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:36.040 the police force, and from there it sort of snowballed 0:19:36.040 --> 0:19:39.320 into a human rights and equ opportunity to commission court 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:43.200 matter and it ended in an out of court settlement. 0:19:48.400 --> 0:19:50.919 In the late nineties, Leale Little left and retrained as 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.480 a lawyer. In the twenty ten she was working with 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.760 the Attorney General to establish the Aboriginal Justice Unit. It 0:19:58.800 --> 0:20:00.960 was a job that took her all the christ the nt. 0:20:03.320 --> 0:20:07.760 So we're here at un Blood to watch hid by 0:20:07.840 --> 0:20:10.640 invitation from the Central Land Council. 0:20:11.440 --> 0:20:14.280 Her goal was to end the over policing and overincarceration 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.040 of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. But in late 0:20:18.080 --> 0:20:20.879 twenty nineteen, while Leanne was putting the finishing touches on 0:20:20.920 --> 0:20:31.679 the Aboriginal Justice Agreement, kimen Ji Walker was killed. Like 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:36.600 much of Australia, Leanne watched the inquest unfold. When she 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:39.639 saw the racist text messages that it dredged up the 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:43.200 deeply racist awards ceremony run by the elite Tactical Unit, 0:20:43.600 --> 0:20:46.720 she was incensed and she couldn't let it slide. 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:51.960 I rang the Police Commissioner and told him exactly how 0:20:52.000 --> 0:20:54.719 I felt. I think it was a little bit surprised. 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.840 I suppose I was surprised that lots of other people 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:04.840 didn't know what was happening. But that's how racism exists 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:09.679 in the system, in small pockets, in large organizations, and 0:21:09.720 --> 0:21:14.800 they find people, you know, who think like that, who 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.480 they're brave enough to say that too, and they sort 0:21:17.480 --> 0:21:24.080 of stick together. But to be perfectly honest, I was 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:27.879 impressed by what people were saying to me next that 0:21:27.960 --> 0:21:32.600 they too, as police officers, were ashamed and embarrassed and 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:37.240 sorry for the you know what was exposed. I think 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:45.280 it was a moment of shame and embarrassment and for me, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:48.640 the police force needed to own that if we were 0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.840 to move forward in fixing what needed to be fixed. 0:21:52.400 --> 0:21:54.080 It was off the back of this call that Leanne 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.280 made a decision that I'm not sure many people in 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:59.359 her position would make. After her parents warned her the 0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:02.520 police were after she felt pushed out of the force 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:06.000 by a treatment as the first Aboriginal police officer. After 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.600 watching the inquest and seeing everything get laid bare, Leanne 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:13.440 went back. She rejoined the police for the same reason 0:22:13.480 --> 0:22:14.879 she's ever done anything. 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.160 Because I think I can make a difference. I think 0:22:17.200 --> 0:22:21.520 that I really have the skills that can work with 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:23.680 other people in a team to make a difference. 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:27.560 Now, as the Executive Director of the Community Resilience and 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:32.200 Engagement Command for the Northern Territory Police Force, she's specifically 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.280 tasked with tackling and rooting out racism in the force. 0:22:36.119 --> 0:22:40.040 It sounds like a big task, but at the same time, 0:22:42.200 --> 0:22:45.600 there should be no racism in a police force and 0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.320 people should be able to work in a professional space 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:54.240 and be their best and not only do non averageal 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:57.000 people don't wantist and average and people don't want racism. 0:22:57.080 --> 0:22:59.720 So I think that's a perfect recipe for me to 0:22:59.760 --> 0:23:03.720 come in and create an environment and train people up 0:23:03.800 --> 0:23:06.919 and encourage people to call out racism when they see it, 0:23:07.440 --> 0:23:10.600 to have complaint mechanisms in place for people when it 0:23:10.680 --> 0:23:11.880 is raised. 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:15.360 Leanne has the duel task of stopping racism towards Aboriginal 0:23:15.440 --> 0:23:20.040 offices and changing the way cops police Aboriginal people. So 0:23:20.080 --> 0:23:23.040 where does she even start. She's aiming to get thirty 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:26.040 percent Aboriginal on torrest Ratland the people on the force. 0:23:26.920 --> 0:23:29.399 She says, the lack of lived experience and decision making 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:31.919 at every level has led to so many of the 0:23:31.960 --> 0:23:35.560 problems here. There's also a number of other measures like 0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:40.080 training police and cultural awareness and strengthening complainte systems so 0:23:40.200 --> 0:23:46.760 officers have somewhere to go when they see or experience racism. 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:49.600 As Leanne runs through these measures for me, I can't 0:23:49.600 --> 0:23:51.320 help but think it's like putting a band aid on 0:23:51.320 --> 0:23:54.600 a gaping wound. She's trying to make these changes at 0:23:54.640 --> 0:23:58.320 a time when the powerful Territory Police union has said 0:23:58.320 --> 0:24:03.159 it things cops are being unfairly for racism. How do 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:05.560 you change police officers who don't want to be changed? 0:24:06.200 --> 0:24:08.760 You say the blame shouldn't be all placed on them. 0:24:09.680 --> 0:24:12.080 It's a reminder that the most powerful person in the 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:14.879 justice system is the cop on the beat. They're the 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:18.000 ones that can taste pepper spray or shoot you on 0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:18.480 the spot. 0:24:19.000 --> 0:24:19.760 They are the law. 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:25.119 Prosecutors can only prosecute, judges can only sentence. If a 0:24:25.200 --> 0:24:28.359 cop resists change, then that can be one cop too many, 0:24:29.119 --> 0:24:31.760 And to change things, Leanne is going to have to 0:24:31.760 --> 0:24:36.440 deal with every type of cop. The more we talk, 0:24:36.520 --> 0:24:39.879 the more real our conversation becomes. It feels like the 0:24:40.000 --> 0:24:42.840 enormity of the task is hitting her, and so returns 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:48.320 to why she's persevering in spite of it all. 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:51.280 I remember when I was a kid going to school 0:24:52.200 --> 0:24:54.000 and I was really good at sport, like I was 0:24:54.040 --> 0:24:56.120 a really fast runner, and I was a school captain, 0:24:56.680 --> 0:25:02.720 and there was a able girl who had cerebral palsy, 0:25:03.520 --> 0:25:07.080 and I was in charge of who was on the relay, 0:25:07.960 --> 0:25:10.720 and she wanted to run, and everyone was saying to me, 0:25:11.080 --> 0:25:14.359 don't let her run, don't let her run. She'll you know, 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:16.760 she's gonna We're gonna lose if you let her run. 0:25:17.600 --> 0:25:22.000 And I'll just sat there. Way let her run, And 0:25:22.040 --> 0:25:28.000 it made her day when she ran. So I'm going 0:25:28.040 --> 0:25:31.400