Aboriginal activist Lyall Munro said the police practice of
constantly strip-searching Aboriginals, and rarely malting arrests, had a g
effect on the Indigenous community.
“Every day police pull our young people up on the street and
strip search them, there are white police men searching young black women,” he
said. “It’s inhuman. How many arrests come from the strip searches? The police
won’t answer that because the answer is hardly any.”
Mr Munro said police had a free reign to harass Aboriginal
people because of a flawed complaints process whereby police investigate
allegations made against other police officers even if they’re made to the
Ombudsman.
“Aboriginal people can’t get redress through this system no
matter how many times we make complaints against police,” he said. “I’ve been
involved in major complaints that have been made to the Ombudsman and they go
nowhere, so what hope does a black teenager have?
“It devastates the community when Aboriginal people can’t
get redress. Young people don’t forget how they’ve been treated and parents
feel disempowered because they can’t do anything about police intimidating
their children.”
Redfern Police local area commander, superintendent Mark Walton, said the relationship between police
and the Aboriginal community had improved and complaints about police conduct
were rare.
“Reasonable grounds to search somebody is established in the
mind of an officer before they activate those powers,” he said. “They may have
made observations in regard to a person or that person might have a history
[that makes his/her actions suspicious].
“The police’s job is a very difficult one. Are we going to
get it right all the time? Probably not. Is every contact with police going to
be a positive one? Probably not. But we do aim to train police so they properly
apply their powers.”
Superintendent Walton said he was confident that complaints
against police officers were thoroughly investigated. “If people are concerned
about particular incidents and how they are treated by Redfern Police then I
encourage them to discuss them with the duty officer at Redfern police
station,” he said. “The complaints are investigated and determined by the
evidence, the same as any other allegation.”
NSW Council of Civil Liberties vice president Pauline Wright
said the lack of police accountability led to systematic harassment of
communities. “The complaint process where police investigate police is far from
ideal,” she said. “In most cases the only evidence is the account of the police
officer and account of the alleged victim.”
“It’s unrealistic to think that police will take the word of
an Aboriginal person over the word of a fellow police officer whom they have a
personal relationship with. Until the system , changes I don’t think we’ll see
the relationship between the police and Aboriginal communities improve.”
Source:
South Sydney Herald February 2008 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au