Crime in Alice Springs - Trauma

Offenders’ intergenerational trauma

Michael Halloran states in Cultural Maintenance and Trauma in Indigenous Australia that one effect of intergenerational cultural trauma is that carriers experience high levels of anxiety, which is translated into maladaptive coping strategies and collective helplessness. These practices may become normative, increasing the likelihood that cultural trauma and its effects will occur in the next generation. The problem of (youth) crime in Alice Springs is deeply embedded in Australia’s colonial past and the trauma and disadvantage this has left. The symptoms of this trauma are visible in Alice Springs to even the briefest observer. (Youth) crime is not new in Alice Springs, but the scale that we see today is a relatively recent phenomenon, often involving large groups of children.

I had partly to rely on newspaper articles and other secondary sources, such as reports by

government, NGOs and youth workers, to describe this phenomenon. She also observed the Magistrate’s Court.

Adverse childhood experiences of offenders

In prisons in the USA, the powerful Step Inside the Circle exercise, part of the Compassion Prison Project designed by Fritzi Horstman, makes it clear to offenders and bystanders alike that nearly all offenders in prison report many adverse childhood experiences. Understanding the shame and dehumanization resulting from child abuse and incarceration, the Step Inside the Circle workshop helped the participants make amends to themselves, the people they’d harmed and their communities. They learned what it means to have compassion for themselves and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVxjuTkWQiE

Trauma in police

Policing officers face potentially traumatic situations and witness the trauma of others. As a result, they are known to have elevated rates of PTSD, depression, and suicidal thoughts and actions. Due to their work culture, this subject has been quite taboo. I

n August 2016, a Four Corners exposé titled Insult to Injury revealed how police officers’ claims for compensation and psychiatric treatment for PTSD were met with scepticism, resistance, and delays. Perceived stigma, failure to seek help and organisational failures to support help-seeking created high levels of despair that affected families and the community. Insurers are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid payouts, such as spying on victims and invading their privacy using both physical and electronic surveillance. For these police officers, these aggressive tactics exacerbated their mental illness, sometimes resulting in suicide.

In the first half of 2022, there were five suicides by current or former Northern Territory Police officers. A Support and Well-being Services Review summary stated that there was no strategy and only limited reporting of data on the mental health and well-being of police

officers, and there was no money for “preventative and responsive” services.

A Beyond Blue survey of 21,000 police and emergency service workers across Australia in 2017-2018 found that employees reported having suicidal thoughts at a rate over two times higher than the general population and were more than three times more likely to have a

suicide plan. It also found that “poor workplace practices and culture were found to be damaging to mental health and occupational trauma.” One in 2.5 employees was diagnosed with a mental health condition, while this figure is one in five in the general population. Four out of 10 former employees experienced symptoms of PTSD, compared with one in ten current employees, and one in five experienced very high psychological distress. More

than half reported they had experienced traumatic events during their work that deeply affected them. Three out of four employees found that the worker’s compensation

process made them even more unwell.

A Northern Territory Police Association survey in 2022 found that most police officers were unhappy with leadership, understaffing issues, and pay levels and were losing faith in the force. 92.6 per cent of officers did not think there were enough police to do what was asked of them. 87.9 per cent said they were dissatisfied with the current pay freeze. 61 per cent felt that senior managers did not engage with employees at all levels, while 58 per cent said that recruitment and promotions were not based on merit. A further 59 per cent said they did not feel safe to speak up and challenge the way things were done, and 58 per cent said they did not feel recommendations from staff were fairly considered. 58 per cent of staff said

they did not feel any action would be taken because of the survey. Northern Territory Police Association president McCue said the results showed the police force was in “complete crisis” and morale was at an all-time low. He mentioned the impact of the Kumanjayi Walker shooting.

Trauma in prison workers

Australian research has revealed that within a sample of prison workers, levels of vicarious trauma increased with every additional hour of exposure to traumatic material. It was noted that vicarious trauma increased with each year of employment. This suggests that prison workers risk developing vicarious trauma throughout their careers, with a greater risk of vicarious trauma as their tenure lengthens. There are strong indications that those who work with incarcerated offenders are at a high risk of negative impacts on their physical and mental health.

Prison officers exposed to the risks to personal safety arising from interaction with volatile offenders are at an elevated risk of stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress.

This direct exposure to trauma has contributed to numerous negative personal and organisational consequences.

Prison workers vicariously exposed to traumatic material can experience significant alterations in their emotional, physical, psychological, and spiritual lives.116

The impacts are described as cumulative, pervasive, and insidious. Prison workers may experience emotional numbness and become cynical and pessimistic. This may

result in them treating inmates inhumanely. Additionally, prison officers suffering from (vicarious) trauma may be at increased risk of family dysfunction, conflict and divorce,

and maladaptive means of coping, including alcohol and substance abuse.

Factors such as excessive traumatic workload and length of time in one job have increased the risk of developing traumatic responses. Incarcerated offenders are most often victims of trauma themselves; therefore, it is plausible for vicarious trauma to manifest in prison workers following exposure to graphic details of the offenders’ crimes, as well as the traumatising events experienced by the offender.

The effects of vicarious trauma often reach far beyond the workplace and into the prison workers’ community. Furthermore, prison workers suffering from (vicarious) trauma can have dire consequences for the outcomes of their offender clients, as we have seen in the Dylan Voller case, including a reduced likelihood of rehabilitation and a greater chance of recidivism. This, in turn, has financial, economic, and social impacts on the broader community.

It is worth considering that corrective services staff often deal with offenders who inflict great pain and suffering on their victims, leaving little space for compassion and empathy. Further research needs to consider how prison management can intervene when signs of secondary stress and trauma first appear or prevent these symptoms from occurring in the first place.

Trauma and vicarious trauma in the Alice Springs community

According to local senior police officers, family dysfunction is the most prevalent cause of rising crime rates in Central Australia. Domestic violence assaults increased by 60%

and property crime also by 60% in Alice Springs from August 2020 to August 2021, despite Strikeforce Viper, a specialist team of nineteen officers targeting property crime. Motor vehicle theft rose by 22 per cent. Youths damage at least one stolen vehicle a day, joyriding. On

some nights, more than 30 cars are stolen. On some nights, there are 23 home invasions.

According to the Northern Territory Safe Streets Audit prepared by the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University and the Australian Institute of Criminology in 2010, crimes where the offender is Aboriginal, and the victim is non-Aboriginal, are over-reported124

Superintendent Deutrom said in an ABC Alice Springs interview on 20 October 2021: “The reality [for] these children [is that] they're lucky if they have their own bed, they wouldn't have their own bedroom. The fridges, if they exist in their households, are not filled with food. The reality is that our prisons are full. Our youth detention centres are full. Our health system is clogged up with alcohol-related and harm issues. Our public housing system is jammed

up. There's a great need for accommodation, and police are responsible and have the purview to maintain law and order.”

Witnessing this situation and being a victim of it traumatises the community. The outcries can be read on the Facebook page Action for Alice 2020. Outcries for change were getting stronger toward the end of 2022.

Crime is one subject about which everyone has an opinion, and anyone can claim to be an expert, but hardly anyone takes the time to ponder what is happening here. Hence, the problem is seldom thought through from its very roots. This was demonstrated again in May 2022, when Alice Springs Town Council attempted to declare the crime crisis an emergency at a special meeting and resolved to call on the Northern Territory government for

help, only to discover that a council cannot declare a State of Emergency.

On the same day, the Property Council of Australia released a report to present to the Northern Territory government, seeking a response to worsening youth crime and unacceptable levels of anti-social behaviour in Alice Springs.

In August 2022, Mayor Matt Patterson, on Australia Overnight, again called for help from State and Federal governments. Patterson talked about the need to turn back the end of the ban on alcohol in remote communities and to reinstall the cashless debit card.

The Property Council surveyed in September 2022 why people are leaving the Northern Territory. The results show that crime and antisocial behaviour is the main reason. This severely affects businesses’ ability to recruit workers.

What one does not hear mentioned very often is that this is a problem of history and its resulting disadvantage.

The Department of Families, Housing and Communities announced a plan to reform youth detention in September 2022 and called it 'visionary'. It is based partly on the Diagrama model in Spain, which is indeed a visionary model. If appropriately implemented, it could

transform the youth detention system from one of the most backward in the world to one of the most innovative. However, the Department has many good policies; the

problem is that they are highly under-resourced. The 55-page plan is unclear on how police and courts will be engaged in the model and how the current shortage of staff

problems will be approached. Its text includes proposals such as: “Rostering staff with appropriate experience and training to support different cohorts and needs of young people at any given time. Providing overlaps of staff rostering to allow ample time for case management, debriefs on critical incidents, and handovers.” This seems to describe standard minimum requirements rather than being 'visionary'. Likewise, the plan does not show how many staff would be considered a full complement, which is best practice in other institutional settings such as hospitals and childcare centres. Moreover, the plan speaks of assessment teams of psychologists, occupational therapists, speech pathology, neuropsychiatry and education; these assessment teams include family members. However, the NT is currently grappling with a skills shortage across all these fields, and the plan does not specify how it will address this problem. Neither are time frames for implementation and evaluation frameworks provided.

The detention centre is, against the recommendation of the 2016 Royal Commission, built next to the Holtze Adult Correctional Facility.

Tourism Central Australia moved a motion in September 2022 urging the government to take immediate action to enforce law and order. They said crime is reaching “crisis levels, and tourists are opting to drive through Alice Springs instead of staying overnight because they fear for their safety.”

The same week, NT Police Southern Division Commander Craig Laidler said the statistics were worrying. "Particularly when I know the amount of work police are doing taking people into custody — and we are not seeing it as a deterrent," he said. “We are seeing many

new, often young, faces among offenders.

In September 2022, deputy mayor Eli Melky said it was time residents took matters into their own hands. ‘People have suggested we find our own security for the town, including a dog squad,’ he said. ‘I think there is legitimacy in saying that we cannot always rely on

government.’ Was Melky suggesting vigilante action?

On 28 September 2022, Chief Minister Fyles said crime in Alice Springs was ‘appalling’ and ‘unacceptable’ and that the government is open to new ideas and initiatives to tackle crime.

In October 2022, the United Nations Committee Against Torture highlighted the Don Dale correctional centre. Change The Record, the Human Rights Law Centre and National Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Legal Service made a joint submission to the Committee

Against Torture.

In October 2022, Mayor Paterson called for a dog squad trial in Alice Springs led by private security, despite strong objections from Police Minister and Lhere Artepe CEO Graeme Smith. They believe the approach will only shift crime elsewhere in town.

In the same week, spit hoods (like those used on Dylan Voller in the viral photo) on children in custody were banned, but new, ‘more modern’ ones were introduced. Details of the new models were not given.

In November 2022, The Northern Territory government announced reforms to raise the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old and overhaul its controversial mandatory sentencing policy for adults. The change falls short of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child's recommendation of a minimum age of 14. In a statement, Attorney-General Paech said that putting 10 and 11-year-olds in contact with the justice system did not deter further reoffending. He did not address that this is also the case for older children and young adults. Nor did he address that the children on our streets are highly transient. He spoke of programs for the very young and their parents. He received many an eye-roll on Action for Alice 2020, because programs by siloed NGOs and government agencies do not reach the most disadvantaged. A poll by the NT News showed that 76 per cent of respondents are against raising the age, 17 per cent are in favour, and 7 per cent think the age should be higher than 12.

In October of that year, business owners called for a curfew. 91 per cent of Alice Springs agreed with that idea in a poll in the NT News.135 The question remains: who will police a curfew, and how? Curfew experiments worldwide have shown that they move the problem to other locations. The problem in Alice Springs is that people want to ‘try’ solutions. Trying is not good enough. The problem needs to be deeply analysed, and solutions should be evidence-based, not based on the moment's emotions.

On the 25th of that month, Melky tried to pass a motion in a council meeting to accept private funding for street patrols with dogs. Concerned members of the community forced Melky to withdraw the motion.