Police Abuse

"We have never been given the opportunity to live in our own ways ... since occupation of our lands in 1829, we have been forced, by successive policies, to be a reactive people. Now we are trying to change to be proactive, but we need time to do that in our own way. We are in the process of re-piecing together our community with our own value system, starting here at Heirisson Island," said Bella Bropho at the Matagarup Refugee Camp on Heirisson Island, Perth, Western Australia.

The WA Police Commissioner must explain where he sourced statistics used to support claims of widespread sexual abuse in remote Indigenous communities, the Opposition says. The Opposition's Aboriginal affairs spokesman Ben Wyatt told Parliament the figures were used in a newspaper opinion piece authored by Commissioner O'Callaghan in March. In it, O'Callaghan backed claims by Barnett of sexual abuse in remote communities, quoting statistics from an unnamed publication.

Ray was stolen from his Aboriginal mother after his white father died serving Australia in WW2

On April 23, an Aboriginal man who dedicated his life to fighting against the deaths of his people in Australian police and prison cells succumbed quietly to his own death in his small flat in Waterloo. Ray Jackson, a Wiradjuri warrior for human rights, was one of Australia's most vocal and knowledgeable deaths-in-custody campaigners. A fighter for Koori justice – or "fkj", as he always signed his weekly emails – Jackson spent nearly 30 years holding our police, prison and court systems to account every time a "blackfella" died in custody.

Mr Fred Hooper, Head of State of the Murrawarri Republic, who served in the Royal Australian Navy as a submariner, was prevented from marching in Canberra on ANZAC Day in commemoration of his Grandfather and his two great uncles. Mr Hooper said from Canberra. “ I wanted to march with my Navy mates, but was prevented by the Australian Federal Police. Instead I was given a police escort from the back of the parade to the front, where the Submarine Association was gathered before the official march commenced.”

As protesters rallied in Perth, South Hedland and Geraldton to demand answers over the death of a 22-year-old Aboriginal woman in police custody in August.
Charmaine Green, who attended the rally in Geraldton announced that a 31-year-old Aboriginal man has died in a Perth prison. An internal police investigation is underway into Ms Dhu's death but their are calls for an independent inquiry as well as strategies to help avoid deaths in custody.

In a situation where there is just too much raw evidence against the Police who brutally pack attacked a man in the Ballina lock-up, there has finally been some charges laid against 4 police officers, but the issue has the massive task of getting past the pro-establishment court system, that is well known for watering down abuses against our First Nations people.
All four entered not guilty pleas and waived their right to a committal hearing and two more are due to appear in the Downing Centre Local Court.

Unlike Australia where police investigate deaths in custody, Deborah Coles says the UK moved to independent investigations in 2004.

In a tragedy that has again ­invoked the shameful record of black deaths in custody in Western Australia, the Aboriginal woman — about to see a doctor for a suspected leg infection when arrested earlier this month — had begged to be hospitalised instead of kept in jail ...

Tony had never been in trouble with the law but briefly lost his cool in a racist road rage incident he regrets. He'd been under stress, working long hours to keep up with his mortgage. His wife had just had their first baby and was a full-time mum. If Tony went to jail he'd lose his job and his family would be left totally without support. The court gave him a suspended sentance, which allowed him just one more chance. Come September 2014 the option of a suspended sentence will cease to exist in Victoria.

A Queensland policewoman who launched a racist internet attack against an Aboriginal activist under a fake Facebook profile, where she also called for the banning of Muslims in western society, has escaped disciplinary action after undergoing "cultural training".

Leanne Rissman, who uses the pseudonym "Sharia Anne", was confirmed by an internal police investigation as being behind internet posts and emails in which she calls Aborigines "oxygen thieves" with a "disgusting aversion to work".

A Manunda grandmother has been left "gobsmacked and humiliated" after police sent to investigate a crime at her home arrested her over a $20 parking fine incurred 22 years ago. The incident occurred after Ms Deshong reported a break-and-enter at her home in the early hours of last Friday morning, during which thieves stole her handbag containing valuable items including a diamond engagement ring.

She said police told her a forensics team might attend the scene for fingerprinting, but come Saturday morning she was told this wouldn't occur, instead on the following Monday, she awoke to three police officers arrived to arrest her for a 20yo parking ticket.