Multimedia: Off the Hook

Release Date: Thursday, June 16 2011, 05:18 PM

AFP members deployed to Operation Pleach in the Northern Territory have taken part in the fourth 'Off the Hook' fishing event recently, held in the town of Pirlangimpi on Melville Island, some 80 kilometres North of Darwin in the Timor Sea.

'Off the Hook' is a community engagement initiative devised by Operation Pleach members in 2009 to build relationships between police in the Northern Territory and local Indigenous communities through a shared love of fishing.

In particular, the initiative seeks to provide Indigenous children with non-competitive, non-physical recreation, and is an opportunity for them to engage with police in a friendly and informal atmosphere. This year's event at Pirlangimpi attracted around 50 local children, with up to 600 children in several other communities around the Northern Territory also participating at the same time.