In this issue

Mackay Regional Community Legal Centre

About the Service Provider, location, how long in operation, number of staff, number of clients seen each year approximately, areas of speciality (in particular in relation to Police Referrals)

Established in 2003, Mackay Regional Community Legal Centre Inc. (‘MRCLC’) is a not-for-profit community organisation based in Mackay, providing free legal services to disadvantaged residents in the Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac Regional Council areas. MRCLC primarily provides legal advice on family law and domestic violence law to clients from police referrals. MRCLC currently employs 7 permanent staff members and 22 volunteers, who help facilitate the delivery of MRCLC’s Legal Advice Evenings. MRCLC conducts Outreach once a month, which allows residents in Bowen, Cannonvale, Proserpine and Sarina to receive legal advice in person. In 2019, across its three main funding programs, MRCLC delivered legal advice to 922 clients, with many of these clients accessing our services more than once.

Number of Police Referral Clients they’ve worked with, average length of time for client engagement

MRCLC has received 245 referrals since we starting receiving police referrals. Some of these referrals have had more than one legal advice appointment. On average, the length of time for client engagement is one hour, as most clients only require one appointment. If it is appropriate for MRCLC to assist further, clients are welcome to book further appointments.

Thoughts on the importance of the Police Referral Service / the value they get from it / they see clients gaining from it / suggestions for improvements

The police referral service ensures that vulnerable residents in the Mackay, Whitsunday and Isaac Regional Council areas can be referred for free legal advice if they cannot afford a private solicitor. Those in need of free legal advice may not know about the MRCLC, and the police referral system bridges this gap to ensure that they can receive the advice they need.

SMS/EMAIL Functionality!

As most would be aware, you are able to create SMS/Email templates within the Police Referral System – SRS. We do encourage this in order to best connect with clients and a benefit for services is that it is a time saver for staff actioning the referrals. When you do create an email template you are able to set your return email as your service email so clients can reply to this. If creating an adhoc email message through the system it will come from the following email address  srs_notifier@infoxchange.org and clients are unable to reply. If you have any questions regarding this functionality please phone us for support.

Warm Refer!

The below services have been bought to our attention recently with the aim of including them in our Police Referral Network however they are all quite niche in what they offer and therefore not appropriate at this stage. With that said, we wanted to share them with you as an additional offering to any appropriate young people you might be seeing through your doors. With 2020 having been such an upheaval in many families lives, the services below are so important to ensure our young people are supported.

www.auntiesandunclesqld.org.au

https://kookaburrakids.org.au/connect

https://www.littledreamers.org.au/

Chris’s corner…

Police regularly get questioned about why we continue to refer people who have declined the services of the service provider when referred previously.

The key reasoning for this is that it is about the right time for the referred person to accept the service. We can’t stop referring someone, thereby stop trying to connect someone with specialist support, just because last time we offered it they declined the service. It may be the 6th or 7th time that someone finally feels they are ready and they need to make the step to speaking with a service provider about their circumstance.

In saying this, with the exception of Domestic and Family Violence, all Police Referrals are completed with the consent of the referred client. Police are referring people to Service Providers in good faith that they have accepted the offer of the referral, so they will hopefully accept the service provider’s service.

In relation to Domestic and Family Violence, section 169F of the Domestic and Family Violence Protection Act allows a Police Officer to refer a person to a specialist DFV service provider if the Police Officer reasonably believes—

(a) the person fears or is experiencing domestic violence and there is a threat to the person’s life, health or safety because of the domestic violence; or

(b) the person has committed domestic violence against another person.

If a Police Officer reasonably believes that these criteria are met then they are able to refer without the consent of the person.

However, one key part of the referral process though is also outlined in the QPS Operational Procedures Manual where reference is made to conducting a ‘suitability assessment’ of the client to be referred considering:

(i) if the person is willing to access the referral service;

(ii) if the person is vulnerable to victimisation, repeat victimisation or harm;

(iii) if the person previously committed an offence, how likely the person is to re-offend without intervention;

(iv) if the intervention will provide a benefit or risk reduction for the person’s family, peers, neighbours, social network;

(v) if a referral is likely to reduce police calls for service; and

(vi) if completing a referral will be an appropriate response to the person and meet community expectations.

These points must be considered prior to any Police Referral being submitted.

Until next month, thank you for all of your work in helping to build safe, caring and connected communities, but most importantly, stay safe.

Thank you and stay safe and mentally healthy.

A/Senior Sergeant Chris Stafford