Updates and latest news

Dear Premier,

In light of yet more shocking revelations in the national media about the abject failure of the current system of police complaints in Victoria we believe that action on the investigation and oversight of police corruption and misconduct is urgently required. As such, the range of community and legal organisations undersigned call upon the Government urgently bring…

The Police Accountability Project calls for the release of Operation Turon findings that expose potential leadership failures within Victoria Police.

Revelations in Victoria’s Coronial Court today have highlighted systemic problems with police-contact death investigations in Victoria.

The Coronial Inquest into the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day has heard concerns regarding the perceived independence of the police investigator assigned to investigate on behalf of the Coroner.

The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System has been urged to avoid “piecemeal reviews and more training updates” by police accountability advocates who say that the policing of people experiencing mental health issues is a vital area of system-wide reform. The submission by the Police Accountability Project has also called for an end to having police as…

In April 2016 Tommy Lovett was set upon by plainclothes detectives from Darebin Police. He was seriously assaulted, capsicum sprayed and ultimately hospitalised for his injuries. Police were looking for a suspect described as an ‘Aboriginal male, aged in his 40s with a goatee and red hat’. At the time Tommy was 18, wearing a black hat and riding…

The onus now is on the current Victorian Government to ensure that Victoria has an independent body that can meet international human rights standards – that is resourced and empowered to promptly, effectively and fairly investigation allegations of serious police misconduct like Corinna’s. We believe that the recommendations currently before Parliament for a new Police Corruption and Misconduct…

Lawyers and advocates from across Victoria have welcomed the Andrews Government announcement of a Royal Commission into police misconduct, but say the Andrews Government should immediately establish an independent Police Corruption & Misconduct Division within IBAC.

Are you 18 years or over? Have you been stopped by the police in Victoria in a vehicle or public place in the last 10 years?

We want to hear your story.

Racial profiling by Victoria Police and the harmful impacts of media distortion, stereotyping and racism have been exposed in a hard-hitting look at Victoria’s racialised crime panic on national television. ABC’s Four Corners interviewed several of our clients who have experienced some shocking incidents of racial profiling, including two young men who were aggressively ordered out of a…

A solution that’s often proposed to deal with problems of racial profiling is to increase police ­force diversity. But does a more diverse police force mean less discrimination?

A parliamentary committee has recommended that all serious police misconduct be investigated by a new independent Police Misconduct and Corruption Division within IBAC. Tamar Hopkins, Professor Jude McCulloch & Professor Leanne Weber discuss what this means for Victorians.

The Victorian Government must, as a matter of urgency, resource a body separate from police to independently investigate all complaints made against Police.

In refusing to strike out Smith’s claim, the court has accepted that it is arguable police could owe a common law duty of care to specific victims of domestic violence to protect them from preventable harm.

Four years ago, human rights, legal and social justice organisations called upon the Victorian Government to respond decisively to the United Nations decision on the case of Corinna Horvath, a young woman who was allegedly bashed by a policeman in her home more than 20 years ago. This week, these same organisations have written again…

Anti-association laws like this criminalise entire communities and entire generations. They send the visceral and racist message that these communities are outside the law and outside the protection of human rights.

Police have launched new Contact Cards but these will not reduce or prevent racial profiling.

The Parliamentary Inquiry examining how police complaints about misconduct and corruption are handled in Victoria was due to report this month but this has been delayed after several high-profile incidents and scandals have beset Victoria Police’s integrity and internal complaint handling system this year.

Evidence from the behaviour of ‘High Reliability Organisations’ shows a clear path forward to improve, not just the perception of, but the ethical conduct of its operations. Vic Police can and should adopt this path, regardless of who handles police complaints writes Tamar Hopkins.

Commentators such as Jon Faine on ABC Melbourne have pointed out that previous attempts taken in Victoria to independently investigate police were unsuccessful.

But are these previous attempts an indication that it would never work? What can we learn from these previous attempts to keep police accountable in Victoria?

Ultimately, building closer relationships between young people and police often results in the intensification of policing of those young people, rather than the desired decrease of these interactions…

And it should not be forgotten that true police accountability is located in the way operational codes are observed, the practices of the relevant internal and external review bodies, and in the culture of every police organisation.

The ConversationThe new visibility provided by BWCs will add a layer of transparency to police activities. But this alone will not be, and…

An avalanche of news stories from people who have experienced excessive force, racist policing or other police misconduct, and tried unsuccessfully to make complaints, provide a shocking glimpse into the failings of Victoria’s police complaints system.

The Audit of Victoria Police’s oversight of serious incidents (27 March 2018) has been described as ‘damning’ and ‘scathing’ for good reason. The audit which examined 142 serious incident ‘oversight’ files found that police officers involved in deaths or serious injuries to the public are not properly investigated due to “clear conflicts of interest” and most cases failed…

The current Inquiry into External Oversight of Police Corruption and Misconduct in Victoria has established beyond doubt the urgent need for a robust and independent police complaints system. But this moment in time also offers a rare opportunity to shine a spotlight on the systemic factors that help to sustain misconduct in everyday policing.

Dear Commissioner Ashton,
We urge you to ensure that the proposed trial and roll-out of BWCs is accompanied by clear legislative guidelines, that footage is made accessible to those who need it, that there are proper incentives for police officers to record interactions with the public and that any expansion of BWCs is based on evidence and rigorous evaluation.

Guerin is a product of a failed police complaints system and this is the broader issue, lost in the current narrative. This is a system that puts police before victims, and this is most acute in the space of family violence. There are countless examples of this.

One of them is Amalia.

Would the independent investigation of police complaints remove responsibility for ethical standards from police? No, not at all we argue.

One of the pervasive myths in the current debate about how complaints against police are investigated is the belief that only police have the skills and experience to conduct investigations into allegations of police misconduct.

The Victorian Parliament’s IBAC Committee will commence Public Hearings this week as part of it’s historic Inquiry into the external oversight of police corruption and misconduct in Victoria.

These public hearings represent the first time parliament has looked seriously at this critical aspect of police accountability in many decades and have been welcomed by community, legal and human rights groups.

The Haile-Michael case, in which the men alleged police had engaged in racial profiling, was settled by agreement on the eve of an eight-week trial. It’s a testament to the tenacity of the men, who despite years of vehement denials and strident opposition, never gave up in their struggle for justice.