Exclusive data covering 4.3 million police searches has revealed a quota-driven culture that boosts search numbers at the risk of abusing police powers.
  • fosstulate@iusearchlinux.fyi
    9·
    8 months ago

    Stop-and-searches are part of a deliberate strategy of “proactive policing” used by NSW Police. … The idea is to reduce crime by increasing police interaction with the community.

    That’s fishing.

    • AJ Sadauskas@aus.social
      5·
      8 months ago

      @fosstulate @zero_gravitas "The ABC has analysed the figures to reveal when and where you’re most likely to be searched, who is most likely to be targeted and how proactive policing pushed search levels to unprecedented heights.

      "What we found is that search patterns vary significantly by location. Lower socioeconomic, migrant and Indigenous areas are often searched at higher rates, despite searches being no more likely to find anything.

      …

      "Police conducted 9 searches per 100 indigenous people in NSW in 2022-23, compared to 2 searches per 100 people in the general population.

      …

      "The state’s specialist Proactive Crime Teams are part of the broader push towards proactive policing.

      "They conduct more than half of searches in some police commands, including Liverpool (59 per cent), the Inner West (54 per cent) and Campbelltown (53 per cent).

      …

      "Statewide, in 2022-23, First Nations people made up just under 18 per cent of all person searches, according to figures from the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research.

      "Among proactive crime times, that figure surges to 40 per cent, according to an ABC analysis of NSW Police data.

      "Only 3.5 per cent of the state’s population is indigenous.

      "Among proactive crime teams, the share of searches of Indigenous people leaps to more than 80 per cent in some regional areas, including the police divisions of Central North (94 per cent), Oxley (85 per cent), Orana Mid-Western (86 per cent) and New England (83 per cent), all in the state’s west.

      “Within Greater Sydney, Indigenous people made up more than half of proactive crime team searches in the police commands of Mt Druitt (61 per cent), Nepean (53 per cent) and Campbelltown (51 per cent).”

      https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-18/how-proactive-policing-quotas-sent-nsw-police-searches-soaring/103579210

  • indomara@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    8 months ago

    Does anyone know the law regarding interactions with police in Australia?

    I have a teenage daughter, she is a typical nerdy red headed girl into reading and such, so unlikely to be profiled for a search, but shit happens.

    She also has Autism, and doesn’t do super well with new situations under pressure. Usually we need to talk about what will happen and what we are likely to do beforehand and she’s fine.

    Can she refuse to be searched by police? Can she ask to be taken to the station to be searched by a female officer? What happens if she says no to them searching her bag or pockets?