Cross-border justice: for legal professionals

Police services in the three jurisdictions can operate outside their home jurisdiction within the cross border region.
Police officers are individually appointed when they are based in the region and hold all necessary powers for all three jurisdictions.

This flexibility builds capacity and promotes timely responses to emergencies and criminal activity.

Flexible arrangements include all of the following:

• each police service retains primary responsibility for the provision of police services within their own borders
• each police service will:
  • provide assistance to neighbouring jurisdictions in an emergency if requested
  • conduct joint operations
  • enforce the legislation of the state or territory where the offence occurs when an offender has moved to a host state. The reciprocal applies
  • charge the offender at the nearest location where detention facilities exist
  • prosecute offenders or lay charges arising from within neighbouring jurisdictions
  • manage prisoner delivery from one participating jurisdiction to another
• emergency responses, extraordinary incidents, investigative action and prosecution, including prosecution costs
• bail arrangements, detainee location and transfer, deaths in custody and other custody incidents
• communication, media, information sharing, including sharing of information about incidence of offending, victims and offenders and freedom of information applications and subpoenas
• staffing issues and capacity, as well as who has the authority to agree to specific activities
• a cross-border police committee and agreement to hold regular meetings and report on costs quarterly.