The NIAA supports Community Safety Patrols to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities improve their safety by delivering culturally appropriate, community‑led patrol services.
Community safety patrollers work in partnership with communities, families, Elders, and local services to support people at risk, to reduce harm and help keep communities safe.
The project recognises that:
- everyone has the right to feel safe in their community
- community safety is a shared responsibility
- preventing harm works best when communities lead the response
The project focuses on prevention and early support, helping people before situations escalate into crisis.
What Community Safety Patrollers do
Patrollers provide a highly visible presence in communities, delivering practical, non‑coercive support to people who may be at risk of harm or hurting others.
Their core activities include:
- engaging with children and young people at night and helping them return to a safe place
- checking in with people at risk
- using approaches such as yarning, de‑escalation and problem‑solving
- helping people access services, including providing transport to safe places or other support services
- referring serious matters to police.
Community Safety Patrols help to close the gap by supporting safer, stronger First Nations communities. The project is part of the Safety and Wellbeing Programme which is about making communities safer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Resources
- Community Safety Patrols Framework (PDF 445KB | DOCX 336KB)