Your pledge will assist our Sunshine Coast community to appeal to Police Commissioner, Katrina Carroll, APM for a Police Liaison Officer who will be our ‘deadly champion’ for a SAFER community! 
 
First Nations Traditional Custodians 
The traditional custodians of the Sunshine Coast include the Gubbi Gubbi/Kabi Kabi and the Jinibarra peoples.     
 
Sunshine Coast First Nations Indigenous Network Group  
The Sunshine Coast First Nations Network Group (SC1NG) is made up of First Nations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) community members. This includes individuals and organisations across the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia.  
 
The purpose of SC1NG is to strengthen relationships between the First Nations communities, individuals and service providers on the Sunshine Coast and to promote genuine partnerships across sectors for improved outcomes for the Sunshine Coast Community.   
 
What is the problem we are trying to solve?  
The Sunshine Coast is a beautifully diverse community.  Despite the richness and resilience of our First Nations community there remains a broad range of systemic injustice for the First Nations community as a result of the colonisation of this country.  These challenges require a proactive relational community led response that is holistic and multi-systemic in its approach.   
 
As a community, First Nations people are still experiencing a devastatingly high over representation within the child protection, youth justice and criminal justice systems.  These issues extend to housing and homelessness, suicide, family and domestic violence, mental health and early school disengagement. Despite recent recognition and growth in race relations in this country there remains a great deal of systemic injustice.   
 
Of all government organisations on the Sunshine Coast – the Queensland Police Service (QPS) are the only one who do not currently have an identified position to engage with the First Nations Communities on the coast.    
 
SC1NG has undertaken to strengthen its relationship with the QPS to ensure the allocation of a First Nations Police Liaison Officer on the Sunshine Coast occurs in order to address this gap.  

We need your voice to communicate the community support for this position to be allocated to our community.   
 
As a community we are unwaveringly committed to improving outcomes for our people and to building on the resilience and relationships within our community.  Join us as our ally in achieving change.  
 
What is a Police Liaison Officer?  
Police Liaison Officers (PLOs) are employed by the Queensland Police Service to establish and maintain a positive rapport between culturally specific communities and the QPS. The role of Police Liaison Officers is to promote trust and understanding by assisting the community and police to: 

• reduce and prevent crime
• divert people from the criminal justice system
• advise and educate police officers on culture and cultural issues, and
• improve community knowledge of law and order issues and policing services. 

The specialist 'liaison role' performed by a Police Liaison Officer does not require powers of a police officer. However, they may be called upon to assist police officers with law enforcement tasks in certain circumstances. 

What do PLOs do?  
Police Liaison Officers have a duty to:

• Liaise with culturally specific communities to foster co-operation and understanding
• Advise police officers on the cultural beliefs, needs and protocols of the community in which they work
• Identify potential crime or disorder problems in the community and advise and assist in prevention strategies
• Establish and maintain communication between the community and police
• Improve community access to policing services and refer to other services where necessary. 

These activities assist the Queensland Police Service to be more effective by improving client services, preventing or reducing crime and maintaining community partnerships. Police Liaison Officers play an important role in this process. 
Raise your voices and pledge your support, to help SC1NG Members bring about the much-needed Police Liaison Officers’ presence in our community! 
 
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SC1NG acknowledges our ancestors and the First Nations People of Australia for their unwavering spiritual connection to the land, water and sea. We particularly want to acknowledge the people of the Undumbi, Nalbo and Da'la Nations on whose lands we conduct our business and pay respect to our Elders past, present and emerging.