ABSTRACT
Feeling black and blue: Indigenous police liaison officers in Torres Strait region
The chapter examines the development of Indigenous police liaison officer programmes in the Torres Straits, focusing on the history of such programmes and police and Indigenous relations more broadly. We focus on the benefits and limitations of living and working in a community that you regulate and belong to, in particular on these roles in remote settings. While police liaison officers in the context of settler societies might be considered a form of neo-colonial policing, we argue that such a characterisation would fail to account for the strong support officers have within remote communities. We draw on in-depth interviews with police liaison officers, police, service providers, and community leaders to examine the role and functions of police liaison officers in the Torres Straits Region of Australia.
