Power/Knowledge and Public Space: Policing the 'Aboriginal Towns"

The over representation ofAboriginalpeople in the eriminaljustiee system Is velJl weil established Further; the role of the police as an organ playing a key role in this over representation- as distinet from essentially passive respondents to a presumably eriminal Aboriginal population- has also been widely aeeepted within the field 01eriminology. This artiele is an attempt to form an understanding of the interaction between Aboriginalpeople ena police byanalysing the manner in whieh knowledge ofthe Aboriginalsubject is eonstructed through materialpolice praetiees in a partieulareontext- the rural eommunities ofNorth-West New South Wales. The paper emphasises the relationship between the structural imperatives of policing and the speeifie eonditions ofpartieularpolicedspaces, andthe active role playedby Aboriginalpeople in the creation ofpolicing outcomes. The over representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system is very well established. Further, the role of the police as an organ playing a key role in this over representation- as distinct from essentially passiv