Category Archives: Australian police and policing

NSW police commissioner says appointment of media adviser under review after new information received

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Karen Webb says checks still under way in the appointment of Channel Seven journalist Steve Jackson to the role of police media adviser

The New South Wales police commissioner, Karen Webb, has revealed the appointment of a new police media adviser is under review after she received new information about the candidate.

A spokesperson for NSW police told Guardian Australia the review of the appointment of the Channel Seven and News Corp journalist Steve Jackson to the $320,000-a-year role “remains ongoing”.

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Man charged with murder after alleged pre-arranged fight in Sydney’s west

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Police allege the accused dumped an injured man on a street in Melonba and left him to die

A man will face court accused of murder following a pre-arranged fight after which he allegedly dumped his opponent in a western Sydney street and left him to die.

Emergency services were called to Georgina Crescent in Melonba about 8.45pm on Friday after reports a man had been found and was likely deceased.

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Baby killer Keli Lane refused release from NSW jail in ‘no body, no parole’ law test

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Keli Lane, convicted of murdering newborn daughter in 1996, refused parole because she has not helped police find Tegan’s body

A woman convicted of killing her baby daughter in one of Australia’s most notorious criminal cases has been denied parole after more than 13 years behind bars.

Keli Lane, 48, was convicted in 2010 after a jury found her guilty of murdering her newborn daughter Tegan in September 1996.

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‘Controlling’ man tricked wife into leaving Australia in order to have her visa cancelled, court told

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The man has pleaded not guilty to ‘exit trafficking’ after taking his wife to Sudan in 2014

While on a trip back to Sudan, a mother left her children with her husband to go and cook for them. But when she returned from her parents’ place, her husband and two young kids had vanished, a Melbourne court has heard.

Her husband faced the first day of a trial by jury in Melbourne’s county court on Thursday, accused of deceiving his wife into leaving Australia after withdrawing sponsorship for her visa.

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NSW police reject watchdog’s calls for updated training and protocols on use of force

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Force responds to scathing NSW law enforcement conduct commission report, dismissing four of 19 recommendations

New South Wales police have rejected calls from the state’s police watchdog for updated training and protocols for officers on the use of force, especially when handcuffing children, after a scathing report handed down last year.

In its Operation Mantus report, the NSW law enforcement conduct commission (Lecc) said the way police were trained should be changed and ongoing education provided to officers.

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Tribute to young lawyer killed in suspected Sydney hit and run

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Police continue to investigate suspected hit and run in Fletcher Street, Tamarama that killed 28-year-old Arnold Bloch Leibler lawyer Mitch East

A Sydney firm has paid tribute to promising young lawyer Mitch East after his death in a suspected hit-and-run incident in the city’s east.

Emergency services were called to Fletcher Street in Tamarama shortly after 4am on Sunday, when they found an injured 28-year-old man.

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Queensland man facing 116 charges against children after allegedly targeting minors online since August

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Sunshine Coast man charged with offences including rape, stalking and making child exploitation material

Police allege a Sunshine Coast man groomed two girls aged between 12 and 14 online before sexually abusing them.

Dion Adam Lingard, 31, will face Maroochydore magistrates court again on 18 March on 116 charges including rape, indecent treatment and stalking.

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Person in custody after man fatally assaulted in Gold Coast car park

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Emergency services called to the shopping centre car park in Hope Island found a man with life-threatening injuries

A 25-year-old man has been taken into custody in relation to a fatal assault in a Gold Coast shopping centre car park.

Emergency services were called to the car park along Santa Barbara Road in the suburb of Hope Island on Monday afternoon after reports a man had been seriously assaulted.

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Cult leader William Kamm and partner arrested in Sydney over alleged child grooming

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William ‘Little Pebble’ Kamm and Sandra Costellia expected to be charged following six-month NSW police investigation

Cult leader William Kamm and his partner have been arrested in Sydney over allegations they groomed a 19-year-old woman for sex from the age of six.

Kamm, 73, who refers to himself as “Little Pebble”, allegedly sent the girl letters and homemade gifts and called her on the phone.

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Officers who shot and killed woman caught stabbing mother in Melbourne faced ‘terrible dilemma’, police say

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Police say they ‘acted appropriately’ when they shot a 26-year-old woman who fatally stabbed her 53-year-old mother

A Victorian woman shot and killed by police officers on Friday evening was caught in the process of stabbing her mother, police say.

Police revealed details about the incident on Saturday, saying that an officer was called to a home in Melbourne’s north-east at about 6.30pm after neighbours mistakenly reported that a young woman was trying to set her mother on fire.

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More than 550 issues raised on behalf of children in police lockups this year, Queensland public guardian says

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Exclusive: Influx of reports comes amid concerns about welfare of young people detained in overcrowded adult watch houses

The Queensland public guardian says its community visitors have reported more than 550 issues on behalf of children detained in police watch houses since the start of this year, amid ongoing concerns about the welfare of young people in overcrowded and “unsuitable” lockups.

First-hand reports from watch houses, revealed by Guardian Australia in January and February, detail how the system is struggling to cope with an influx of children, the result of the state government’s “tough on crime” justice policies.

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Samantha Murphy: Victoria police charge man with murder of missing Ballarat woman

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Police say the 22-year-old Ballarat man was expected to face court today, a month after the 51-year-old was last seen leaving home

A 22-year-old man has been charged with the murder of Ballarat woman Samantha Murphy, who went missing more than a month ago.

Patrick Stephenson is expected to front Ballarat magistrates court on Thursday, charged with one count of murder.

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Boy, 13, charged with sexually assaulting jogger in Melbourne’s south-east

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Police say the alleged attack occurred on the Dandenong Creek trail on 31 January, with the woman fighting off the teen

A teenage boy has been charged over the false imprisonment and sexual assault of a female jogger in Melbourne’s south-east.

The 13-year-old from Rowville was charged over the alleged attack of a woman on the Dandenong Creek trail in January.

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Asio boss defends undercover police operation targeting boy with autism

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Mike Burgess says security agencies ‘don’t radicalise people’ and stands by actions of police in case of 13-year-old with Islamic State ‘fixation’

The Asio chief has insisted security agencies “don’t radicalise people” but admitted “dealing with minors is incredibly difficult” after court findings criticising an undercover operation targeting a 13-year-old child with autism.

Guardian Australia revealed last month that the boy, known by the pseudonym Thomas Carrick, was granted a permanent stay on terror-related charges last October, after a magistrate found police “fed his fixation” with Islamic State during the operation and “doomed” his efforts at rehabilitation.

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Dan Tehan condemns ‘big Australia’ policy but won’t reveal Coalition’s immigration plan

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Shadow immigration minister wants ‘better Australia’ but refuses to say what level of migration Coalition would pursue in government

The shadow immigration minister, Dan Tehan, has criticised a “big Australia” policy but refused to say what level of migration the Coalition would pursue in government, saying only that it wants “a better Australia”.

In an interview with the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday, Tehan was repeatedly challenged to spell out the Coalition’s view on acceptable migration levels, but said: “I can tell you what it shouldn’t be. It shouldn’t be as high as what it is today.”

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Kumanjayi Walker inquest told of ‘clearly racist’ NT police awards that appear to contradict senior officers’ testimony

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Zachary Rolfe evidence calls into question the testimony of several senior officers to the court earlier this week

Award certificates allegedly given out to members of an elite Northern Territory police unit were “clearly racist”, calling into question the evidence of several senior officers, a court has heard.

Zachary Rolfe told an inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker earlier this week that he believed a racist mock award had been bestowed by the Tactical Response Group to the member who behaved most like an Aboriginal person.

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Queensland police to be granted power to instantly issue year-long domestic violence protection orders

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Exclusive: New ‘police efficiency’ laws planned amid political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime

The Queensland government is planning to introduce new “police efficiency” laws that would empower officers to issue on-the-spot year-long domestic violence protection orders, amid ongoing political pressure to devote more frontline resources to youth crime.

Documents leaked to Guardian Australia show the state intends to announce police “modernisation measures” in mid-March, including legislative amendments allowing officers to impose immediate protection orders for up to 12 months without having to make an application to a court.

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Senior NT police deny Zachary Rolfe’s claim unit held racist mock award, inquest hears

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Lawyer tells Kumanjayi Walker inquest current and former officers in tactical response group rejected claims and said they were hurtful

Senior police from the Northern Territory’s heavily armed tactical response unit have strongly denied claims by Zachary Rolfe that the unit bestowed a racist mock award on colleagues who displayed Aboriginal-like behaviour, a court has heard.

Rolfe made the claims earlier this week in Alice Springs during the inquest into the death of Kumanjayi Walker.

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Former News Corp journalist offered to write article defending Zachary Rolfe two days after he shot Kumanjayi Walker dead, court hears

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Kristin Shorten from The Australian told former police officer to ‘ignore the leftist reporting’, inquest into Indigenous man’s death hears

A journalist at The Australian told Zachary Rolfe only two days after he shot and killed Kumanjayi Walker that she could “write an article in your defence” because “I know what you did was totally warranted”, a court has heard.

Journalist Kristin Shorten, who Rolfe said was a friend because her partner was a fellow police officer, texted Rolfe in November 2019 asking if he was OK after the incident and telling him to “ignore the leftist reporting”, the inquest into Walker’s death heard on Wednesday.

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AFP confirms it won’t march in Sydney Mardi Gras after NSW police asked not to join parade

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The decision comes after NSW constable Beaumont Lamarre-Condon was charged over the deaths of the gay couple last week

Organisers of Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade have asked police not to march in the event on Saturday after New South Wales constable Beaumont Lamarre was charged with murdering a gay couple in the city, the New South Wales force have said.

A NSW police spokesperson confirmed the decision by the board of Australia’s premier LGBTQI event on Monday night.

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