The police
Police men and women have a lot of important jobs to do in our community, including:
- solving crimes
- arresting criminals
- prosecuting people
- carrying out rescue work on land and water
- catching traffic offenders
- directing traffic
- controlling crowds
- patrolling our streets and shopping centres
- visiting schools
Liaison officers
Some police men and women work closely with particular groups in the community. Youth liaison officers (YLOs) and Aboriginal liaison officers (ALOs) study the problems affecting those groups and look for ways to reduce crime.
Let’s explore 
- Have you ever needed help from the police?
- Where is your nearest police station?
- What do you call a police man or woman?
Childen and the police
There are rules that the police have to follow if they want to question you. If your are under 18 years old, you don’t have to answer their questions until a parent or adult friend is with you.
Move along
We saw in an earlier chapter that sometimes young people may causepublic disorder by swearing, obstructing traffic, ‘hanging out’ in groups ordamaging public property. Offensive conduct may not hurt anybody, but itcan make other people feel unsafe.
When this happens, the police sometimes use their power to order people to ‘move on’ or stop what they are doing. The police officer must give his or her name and the police station they come from and why the order is being given. Disobeying the order twice can be a crime.
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