Unless you are arrested or placed in custody, New South Wales police are under no obligation to ask or record your Indigenous status, but that is about to change with a new mandate introduced last week.
NSW Police are now required to ask victims, persons of interest and suspects if they identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and their status must be recorded in the police system.
Nadine Miles, the acting CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service New South Wales and the ACT (ALS) told NITV News that the changes are a positive opportunity to get a better understanding of how many Indigenous people are coming in contact with New South Wales Police.
"It's broader than just people in custody, which reporting has always been an obligation for police to do," she said.
"But people who are not being taken into custody could be Aboriginal and being charged, but are not given the benefit of a referral to ALS."
The Aboriginal Legal Service runs a custody notification service that police call only when an Indigenous person is arrested.
"Knowing the number of Aboriginal people coming in contact with police, we want to see better data so that we can not only make plans for our services but also ensure that Aboriginal people taken into custody are getting the proper access to services available to them," Ms Miles said.
About three per cent of the population are Indigenous, but that jumps to 30 per cent of the prison population in the year up to June 30, 2021, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The proportion is even worse for Aboriginal young people, who made up 40 per cent of youths in detention in May last year.
"It is about being real in relation to understanding the issue that is before us... Of course more work has to be done, but it's better to know exactly how many people are in the system and this will bring clarity" Ms Miles said.
People are not required to answer questions about their status and the mandate does not apply to traffic and transport infringements.
Ms Miles acknowledged that some people may fear answering the question honestly, saying that appropriate cultural training for police officers is critical.
"I hope that police... ask the question in a way that is respectful and not demeaning, and doesn't cause offence which will mean people give a false answer or don't want to participate," Ms Miles said.
"This will absolutely not be a remedy, but it will bring clarity to the numbers of Indigenous people caught up in the system."
The changes are a recommendation of the NSW Police Aboriginal Strategic Advisory Council.
Wiradjuri man Brendan Thomas is a member of the advisory council, and told AAP that having more accurate data will mean that better-informed decisions are made about the support provided to Indigenous people in the criminal justice system.
"With more accurate data, we can make better informed decisions on how to support Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system and establish programs to prevent reoffending and reduce incarceration," he said.
Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) executive director Jackie Fitzgerald agreed that the alarming statistics around incarceration indicated that the NSW justice system had a long way to go in improving outcomes for Indigenous people.
Ms Fitzgerald said the information on Indigenous interaction with police and the justice system had deteriorated over time, and the availability of improved data "can assist in the better allocation of resources and efforts.
