5.4.2 Police contact and custody

Age of first police contact[1]

These data indicate how young a person was when they first had contact with police as a victim or offender.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a significantly lower age of first police contact than their non-Indigenous counterparts (14.9 vs 18.3) t(1867) = 13.890, p <.001.

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have a significantly lower age of first police contact compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts (14.6 vs 17.0), t(1303.385)=10.098, p<.001

Number of police contacts

These data indicate the number of police contacts a person has had over their lifetime, up to the point at which the data was drawn for this study. The figure provided is the average number of contacts found for each group.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a significantly higher number of police contacts than their non-Indigenous counterparts (81.8 vs. 59.8), t(2729)=-9.549, p<.0001.

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that the Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have a significantly higher number of police contacts than their non-Indigenous counterparts (99.2 vs. 73.6), t(1115) =-8.44, p < 0.0001.

Rate of police contact

These data indicate the yearly rate of police contact for a person. This is calculated by dividing the number of total police contacts by the number of years between the first recorded police contact and the last recorded police contact for an individual.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a significantly higher rate of police contacts per year than their non-Indigenous counterparts (5.3 vs. 4.1), t(1061.9) = -7.155, p < 0.0001).

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have a significantly higher rate of police contact per year than their non-Indigenous counterparts (7.8 vs. 6.4), t(644.5) =-4.42, p < 0.0001.

Victim contacts

These data indicate the number of police contacts a person has had over their lifetime where they have been identified as a victim.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a significantly higher number of police contacts as a victim than their non-Indigenous counterparts (9.1 vs. 8.0), t(2729) =-2.327, p < 0.05.

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have similar number of police contacts as a victim as their non-Indigenous counterparts (9.8 vs. 9.7), t(1646) =-.175, p = 0.865 (not statistically significant).

Rate of victim contacts

These data indicate the yearly rate of police contact for a person identified as a victim, calculated by dividing the number of total victim contacts by the number of years between the first recorded police contact and the last recorded police contact for an individual.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a slightly higher rate of police contacts as a victim per year than their non-Indigenous counterparts (0.58 vs. 0.55), t(2699) =-.945, p = 0.345 (not statistically significant).

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have a similar rate of victim contacts per year to their non-Indigenous counterparts (0.60 vs. 0.64), t(998.762) = .742, p = 0.458 (not statistically significant). 

Age of first police custody

These data indicate how young a person was when they first spent time in police custody. It should be noted that these averages are affected by the group in the cohort who did not have contact with the criminal justice system until their middle age.

Overall:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people in the cohort have a significantly lower age of first police custody that their non-Indigenous counterparts (23.7 vs 26.8) t(1351.65)=7.709, p<0.001

Complex needs specific:

A T-test shows that Indigenous people with complex needs in the cohort have a significantly lower age of first custody compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts (23.0 vs 25.5), t(1100) = 5.556, p<0.001

Notes:

[1] It should be noted that average ages in the following analyses make it seem as if many in the cohort are adults with they come into contact with the criminal justice system. However these averages are biased due to a few much older first contacts (i.e. there is a significantly higher age of first contact with police for those people in the cohort with MH only, possibly due to later onset of mental illness). Calculating the median age indicates that ~50% had their first contact before the age of 18 (Baldry et al 2013, 10).