The Police Accountability Project run by Inner Melbourne Community Legal has created a new tool to allow people to quickly record information about interactions with police or Protective Services Officers (PSOs) in designated areas and seek further legal advice if necessary.
Designated Area Watch is an online tool that only takes a couple of minutes to fill out.
It has been created in response to the increased use of police powers to declare a designated area, where officers do not need a warrant or suspicion of an offence to stop and search someone.
Following new legislation introduced last year, police now have the power to declare a designated area for up to six months under the Control of Weapons Act.
In December, police initially declared the entire Melbourne CBD and surrounds as a designated area, although that declaration was later rescinded in early-January.
Following a legal challenge by the Human Rights Law Centre on behalf of three activists, the Federal Court last month ruled that the six-month declaration was unlawful and invalid, and Victoria Police did not give proper consideration to Victoria’s Charter of Human Rights.
Community legal centres and the Police Accountability Project have been warning that these additional powers could disproportionately impact on people of colour, homeless people, young people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
In a designated area, police and PSOs do not need to have proof, or reasonable grounds or a warrant to search you, or your vehicle or anything in your possession (like a bag). Police have additional stop and search powers, powers to order people to remove face-coverings, and to direct people to leave the area.
Designated Area Watch will help to build a more complete, data driven, picture of how police are exercising these powers.
It will also provide an avenue for people to seek further legal advice if they have been charged or want to make a complaint about how they were treated during a search.
