“Let’s keep our mob out of custody”

by Michael Gormly
Glebe Police have cordially invited members of their local Aboriginal Community to the first Aboriginal Consultative Committee meetings for 2009.

It’s an opportunity to meet Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers Bill Ramage and Derek Walker who are keen to work with locals to put together programs to increase understanding between police and local residents.

Their motto is ‘Let’s work in partnership to keep our mob out of custody.’

The meeting is to be held at Glebe Town Hall on Friday 20 February 2009 at 10.30am.

Younger members of the Aboriginal Community are also invited to the Youth Aboriginal Consultative Committee meeting, 4pm at the Peter Forsyth Auditorium. The Committee is better known as ‘The Glebe Krew’ ‘ about a dozen young people who work with Police and youth workers to put together activities for young locals. They have already run a successful stall at the Mitchell Street Fête in December and are planning a Disco party very soon. So if you like a good time with no trouble, get involved!

If you would like more information on either Committee please contact Bill or Derek or Inspector Jason Green at Glebe Police Station on Ph: 9552 8099.

Bridging cultures is their job

Derek Walker and Bill Ramage might be fairly new at this job but they have been around the block a few times.

Derek has lived in inner Sydney since the early ’70s and says he has done ‘a bit of everything.’ He’s been a bus driver, run maintenance at a large school and worked as a Cultural Liaison Officer for TAFE.

Bill grew up in Inverell and has lived in Sydney since 1993. He was one of the first Aboriginal apprentices at TAFE before working as a mechanic in Newcastle for eight or nine years and then for Telstra.

Their aim is to increase respect and understanding between Police and the 1,000 or so people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background who live in Glebe ‘ especially the kids.

‘It’s like a local version of national reconciliation,’ says Derek.

‘Part of it is highlighting the good things kids do, because people usually only hear about the problems.’

Another part is running cultural awareness programs for the police.

Bill and Derek also want to remedy the lack of things to do after hours for young people in Glebe. They plan to organise sports competitions between them and the Police, something which has worked wonders for mutual respect in other places.

The pair give the thumbs-up to Glebe for being a lot less racist than many other communities. But hidden racism still existed in Sydney.

‘We see it all the time,’ says Derek. ‘If one of us goes into a shop wearing civilian clothes, sometimes you can wait forever to get served. But if you’re wearing your official uniform you get served straight away.’

Bill and Derek are easy to find ‘ theirs is the first door on the left as you enter the Police Station.