Five times a week the ?Night Patrol? winds through the darkness of the 18 squalid aboriginal camps in Alice Springs trying to prevent the alcohol-fuelled violence that is destroying lives.

On the night Reuters joins the patrol, two women emerge from the darkness of the Karnte camp, seeking help for a friend stabbed by her drunken husband in a jealous rage. The headlights quickly spot the woman sitting on the track, blood running down her arm and into the dirt, another cut bleeds on her neck and her shoulders are bruised.

She is given first aid, taken to hospital and police are called. The patrol has no power of arrest. It aims to talk people out of trouble and offer a ride to safety or hospital. ?We do have some fear but if it is out of our control we call the cops,? said patrol leader Aborigine Ros Forrester. ?The police lockup is the last resort. If we stop someone from getting hurt and keep people out of the justice system, that is our reward ? you are saving lives,? said Forrester, who lives in Larapinta camp. A recent report found a ?river of grog? or alcohol was destroying aboriginal communities in the outback Northern Territory and fuelling violence.

Prime Minister John Howard has declared a national emergency and sent police and troops to end the binge drinking, violence and sexual abuse against women and children. He plans to take over 60 aboriginal communities, but many Aborigines fear that the government just wants their land and that there is no long-term plan to improve their lives. They say many aboriginal communities are already working hard to stop the violence and abuse through programmes such as the ?Night Patrol?, restricting welfare payments, issuing food vouchers, running sexual awareness campaigns and abuse shelters.

?If you take all control away from people, and you also eliminate all opportunities for them to take responsibility for their own lives, then you will create the worst welfare,? said William Tilmouth, head of Tangentyere Council. The council manages the camps around Alice Springs, which are home to some 3,000 people. The volunteer patrols will keep operating despite the government crackdown.

Australia?s 460 000 Aborigines make up 2 percent of the 20 million population. They have a life expectancy 17 years lower than white Australians and have far higher rates of unemployment, imprisonment, alcohol and drug abuse and domestic violence.

The ?Night Patrol? consists of two women and two men, each speaking a different aboriginal language. The team comes from the camps and are there to sense when trouble is brewing.