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40-year veteran and Indigenous cadet — policing odd-couple turning heads and fighting crime

Byindianadmin

Jun 28, 2020 #heads, #turning
40-year veteran and Indigenous cadet — policing odd-couple turning heads and fighting crime

Zarelda Dickens is getting used to turning heads as she patrols the dusty backroads and sun-drenched highways of the Kimberley.

The local Aboriginal people do a double-take when they see her coming in her police uniform.

Key points:

  • There are 36 Aboriginal police cadets in Western Australia
  • Zarelda Dickens is the first to be posted to remote community police station
  • There are hopes that the cadet program will help overcome historical tensions

“When I pull local people over I see them looking at me thinking, ‘who’s this blackfella?’ — and they’re surprised and smiling,” she said.

“They always seem happy there’s an Aboriginal cadet and I reckon they open up to me more than a white man in a uniform.”

By her side is a white man in uniform — veteran Kimberley copper Neville Ripp.

The bulky, tall policeman was asked earlier this year if he had been willing to take on a rookie with a difference — a teenage girl from the Aboriginal community of Looma, where he is based.

Police patrol in a desert landscape.

Police cadet Zarelda Dickens and Senior Sergeant Neville Ripp on patrol on the outskirts of the Djugerari community in the southern Kimberley.(ABC Kimberley: Erin Parke)

“I couldn’t believe my ears,” Senior Sergeant Ripp said. “Why the hell wouldn’t we?

“And it’s been such a success — Zarelda has a beautiful nature.

It is an unlikely pairing, and one that is raising hopes the often tense relationship between police and Aboriginal communities in northern Australia

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