Adaptive Policing and Climate Change in Australia: Making Sense of Divergent Trajectories

• In Event: Policing in a Climate Crisis: Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

Australia is often described as being on the frontlines of Anthropogenic climate change and in recent years, the frequency and severity of disasters caused by natural hazards has increased. Police across the country have long contributed to the management of these disasters, but their mentalities, capabilities, and statutory responsibilities vary significantly between (and within) different states and territories. Building on my recent work on ‘resilience policing’ during the Black Summer bushfires, this paper compares the disaster policing roles and functions of police in two Australian jurisdictions with distinct policing models for the purpose of considering what factors appear to support and sustain institutional adaptations which in-turn enhance the ability of police to cope with the demands associated with non-conventional shocks. The first jurisdiction experienced several major disasters caused by natural hazards over the past twenty-years whereas the second case study did not. Drawing on empirical insight generated from interviews with police from both jurisdictions, the paper illustrates how repeated exposure to disasters may enhance individual and institutional resilience and innovations which contribute to positive disaster management outcomes. Conversely, I argue that a lack of exposure may reduce institutional awareness of the challenges posed by complex disasters along with external (i.e. political, social or systemic) pressures to adapt to the potential demands of rapidly change risk landscapes. Despite some promising findings from the first case study, the challenges of sustainability and institutional memory are acknowledged, and I argue there is an urgent need to establish institutional mechanisms which steward lesson learning, knowledge exchange, boundary crossing, and knowledge preservation.

Author

• Jarrett Blaustein, Australian National University