Police Liaison Officers Unite Community
Police Liaison Officers (PLOs) are employed by the Queensland Police Service (QPS) to establish and maintain a positive rapport between Indigenous and multicultural communities and police.
Their role is to promote trust and understanding by helping the community and police to:
- reduce and prevent crime;
- divert Indigenous and ethnic people from the criminal justice system;
- advise and inform police officers on such things as cultural customs, traditions and languages; and
- improve community knowledge about policing services and issues of law and order.
They do not have the powers of a police officer and, despite wearing the same blue uniform, are recognisable by their yellow shoulder epaulettes and the ‘Police Liaison Officer’ badge on their hats. This differs in the Torres Strait where the shoulder epaulettes are blue/green.
The concept of PLOs was initiated in North Queensland and expanded in response to the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Initial successes led to an expansion to the rest of the state. There are currently 140 positions for PLOs with approximately 85% of them having links to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Others have links with the Chinese, Vietnamese, Pacific Islander, Australian South Sea Islander, Sudanese, South American, Filipino, Eastern European, Fijian Indian and Arabic speaking communities.
For further enquiries regarding the PLO scheme, contact can be made with local PLOs or the QPS Cultural Advisory Unit on 3364 3934. Information provided courtesy of the Police Bulletin.
Last Updated: 08/09/2006