Global Literacies for Australian Police: Thinking Globally, Policing Locally

Abstract

Globalisation, immigration, and advancements in digital and information technologies present a range of complex socio-political, demographic, cultural and technological challenges for policing. Playing out across an increasingly diverse Australian society, these influences are progressively more likely to have a significant impact on policing, requiring a nuanced and flexible policing style with its attendant challenges for police education. Local challenges posed by regional and international migration, and national and international challenges posed by the cross-jurisdictional nature of crime in a global society are key sociological and criminological factors that police education programs must keep pace with. In a time of such global fluidity, it is argued that designers of police curricula must reassess the underlying principles that have historically shaped police education in Australia. This is a critical discussion that examines two key areas associated with globalisation and proposes the adoption of a definition of global literacies as a guiding principle for police education in the twenty-first century. The study concludes by offering three specific recommendations for the redevelopment of future police curricula.