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Indigenous trackers help NT police

Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory have been helping police with their investigations for 150 years, and they are still of invaluable help, Richard Davis reports.

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1 min read

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Updated

By Leroy Ah Ben

Source: SBS


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Aboriginal people have long been known for their tracking skills, which have been handed down from generation to generation.

It has proved an invaluable resource to police in the Northern Territory, who often use trackers to locate missing people or hunt down escaped criminals.

Detective Sergeant Mick Schumacher, who has worked with Aboriginal trackers for the past 22 years, says in some cases they are essential.

"Policing is a lot about observation and realistically traditional men and women for that matter can bring another level of observation skills to interpreting all sorts of things," he told SBS.

It is believed that trackers started working with police in the NT in the 1860s.

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