Policing In Australia Today

Tuning In

In the past local towns and cities often paid for a small group of men to ensure law and order especially at night. A professional police service first came into being in the UK in 1829 under an Act of Parliament introduced by the Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel.

• Ask students to explore the history of their state or territory police force and use an app such as Sutori to create a chronological timeline showing significant dates in their police force history. Students then explore the relevant state or territory police historical society/museum website to conduct additional research and complete the following activity as a class.

For each event/change, students pose an explanation as to why it was introduced (discuss students’ ideas). Add to your timeline each event/change explanation and conduct a group sharing of completed timelines. Students use this information to answer the question: Why has the way the police operate changed over time?

Lesson Idea 1

• Students read the extract from the Australian Government’s Life in Australia: Australian Values and Principles, written for new immigrants. Divide the class into eight groups. Allocate a value identified in the extract to each group. Using the advice provided by the extract, each group identifies and explains the reasons for the inclusion of their value. Groups report back their findings and discuss their reasoning. (Remind students that the audience for the document are people who have come from another country).
• Ask students to watch Here’s What a Day in the Life of a WA Police Officer Looks Like or Be A Force for Good and create a poster/pamphlet, to be given to new migrants on their arrival, explaining the role of the police in Australia today (students should consider the appropriateness of the design for a multi ethnic audience).

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