Nightly across the country, Indigenous community patrollers do a difficult and important job meeting the needs of their people and the wider community, often with little recognition or remuneration.

While they can be seen as performing ‘policing’ activities in the broadest sense of the word, Indigenous community patrols perform a very different role to the police service itself. Patrols are prevention and acute intervention services, working to resolve disputes and intervene in situations of family conflict before harm is caused. They are Indigenous initiatives, operating within Indigenous culture, empowering people to provide justice and conflict resolution services within their own communities.

Tangentyere Night Patrol is one such patrol service. Five nights per week, Indigenous employees patrol town camps and Alice Springs in a vehicle fitted with communication equipment and first aid supplies.

In another example, with their ‘insider’ knowledge, patrol staff notice when more cars than usual come in from out bush to a certain town camp. They know if there is something brewing, and will talk to people in an attempt to prevent an incident. ‘We know who’s associated and where they should be going [to stay safe].’[4]