Catherine Burn,
the recently appointed Commander to Redfern Police Local Area Command is no
stranger to the area. She began living in Chippendale as a teenager and, apart
from a brief time away in Glebe, has lived there ever since. She comes to
Redfern after a distinguished 22 year career in the NSW Police. For 16 years
she was a specialist with NSW Criminal Investigation and then became the Local
Area Commander for Burwood.
After a brief period in Central Command she was moved into
Redfern to lead its 200 staff.
Quite apart from enjoying walking around its streets over
many years, Catherine had some picture of the state of Redfern Policing when
she participated in the NSW Parliamentary Enquiry after the “Redfern riots”. In
helping to prepare the submission, she gained insights into the history,
structure and strategy involved in the work in the area.
As the Area Commander, she sees it as her responsibility to set
clear directions for the police team. At this point in time, she sees four key
challenges.
To provide a safe workplace: Increasing officer survival
skills, paying due attention to occupational health and safety, reducing stress
and injury and watching over mental health.
She believes that, if these issues due not receive enough
care then officers are either worn down or harden their attitudes. Proper
debriefing, peer support, welfare and watching over appropriate leave sustains
both a better workplace and better policing.
To build respect for the police in the area: She has been
impressed by the number of appreciative letters and phone calls she has
received in relation to police work already being done. However, she is still
committed to building up professional skills, looking at role models, cultural
awareness and being pro-active and responsive alongside a capable complain
management team.
To reduce violence and fear in the area: In doing this, the
Commander sees interaction with the community as critical. She meets regularly
with 12 representatives of the Aboriginal community and agencies who form the
Aboriginal Consultative Committee. She believes that this work is more likely
to be effective if it is well-focussed and assessed after a period of time. The
focus for this year is the reduction of family violence and the breaking down
of barriers towards the developing of mutual respect between police and
community.
The Touch Footy game in April is part of this effort.
Crime reduction: The Commander sees crime reduction as also
a means of fear reduction. In fact, there is less armed crime and break ins in
Redfern than there is in Burwood. The majority of crimes in Redfern are unarmed
street crimes. All crime in the area is declining but there is still a way to
go. Most crime is committed by a relatively small number of repeat offenders
and is often linked with drug and alcohol addiction. In the next period there
will be a particular focus on the prevention of family violence through the
work of the Redfern Waterloo Family Violence Task Force alongside an effort to
reduce minor assaults and alcohol related crime. She is working with the
Redfern Legal Centre to discuss issues, encourage relationships and build up
trust.
Does Commander Catherine Burn
feel optimistic? Yes, she does. She feels that the new building assigned to the
police is a huge improvement. She loves this area and its people and believes
that it is a matter of creating relationships between police and community and
enabling police to feel they are a team going in the same direction. She is
excited about her work, knowing that you can’t change history but that her task
is a commitment to chipping away at the problems, never giving up and gathering
a good team around her in both the police and the community.
Watch for the barbecues in May!