Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Sydney pro-Palestine rally to go ahead on Saturday despite premier’s concern over ‘bad faith actors’

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Chris Minns says he believes protesters do not want ‘hate speech within their march’ but final decision on event is up to NSW police

Saturday’s planned pro-Palestine march through the streets of Sydney will go ahead unless police launch an 11th-hour legal challenge amid rising concern about unrest.

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, said a final decision on the event would be up to the police while warning the government had been briefed by senior officers who had expressed concern about the event due to “changed circumstances”.

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NSW police strip-searches of Indigenous people rose 35% in past 12 months and included 11 children, data reveals

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Freedom of information figures also show 25 girls were strip-searched in the past financial year compared to just seven in 2021-22

The number of Indigenous people strip-searched by New South Wales police jumped 35% over the past 12 months with 11 of those searched aged under 18, including a 12-year-old.

NSW police data released under the state’s Gipa laws revealed 340 First Nations Australians were strip-searched in the 2022-23 financial year, up from 253 the year before.

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Man killed and woman seriously injured in dog attack in Tasmanian home

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Council officers who attended the scene were shaken by what they encountered after a man, 66, was pronounced dead at an Allens Rivulet property on Sunday

A police investigation is under way after a pet dog killed its owner and left another in a serious condition at a rural property in southern Tasmania.

Neighbours raised the alarm after hearing cries for help at 10.40pm on Sunday.

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Queensland Police Union willing to challenge officer misconduct rulings after ‘unmitigated debacle’

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Prospect of appeals causes disquiet among police, with one harassment victim fearing some union members ‘will now be supporting our abusers’

The Queensland police service is facing further potential challenges to bungled internal discipline cases, despite the state government changing the law to validate the “unlawful” process used to sanction hundreds of officers.

The QPS was this year forced to rescind punishments, including several sackings and demotions, for about 300 officers, after a court ruled the process used for internal discipline was invalid.

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Queensland police lodge complaint to hospital over treatment of alleged teenage rape victim

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Exclusive: Central Queensland child protection investigation unit complained after family reported alleged assault in August

Queensland police lodged an official complaint to a hospital in August about the treatment of an alleged teen rape victim who said she left the facility feeling “humiliated” without undergoing a full examination.

The Central Queensland child protection investigation unit complained to the hospital after learning of the girl’s alleged assault from her family.

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Police arrest three men outside Sydney Jewish Museum over alleged Nazi salute

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Police were called to the museum in the inner-city suburb of Darlinghurst shortly before midday after alleged antisemitic display

The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has expressed “extreme concern” after three men were arrested after allegations they performed a Nazi salute outside Sydney’s Jewish Museum on Friday morning.

Police were called to the Darlinghurst museum shortly before noon, where they proceeded to arrest the men.

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‘If they don’t comply, they die’: family of fatal NSW police shootings call for independent inquiry

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Exclusive: Premier says an inquiry into use of force against vulnerable people isn’t necessary, despite four fatalities in as many months

The families of vulnerable people fatally shot by New South Wales police have united to call for an independent inquiry into the way officers use force when responding to mental health emergencies.

Their call has been backed by a former coroner and leading lawyers after four fatal police interactions in as many months.

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NSW drug law overhaul would allow users to work off their fine by seeking help

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The scheme could see thousands of recreational ice, cocaine and MDMA users avoid criminal penalties

People who are caught with small quantities of illicit drugs for personal use could be issued with fines that they can work off by seeking help as part of a drug law overhaul being introduced into the New South Wales parliament this week.

The two-strike scheme could see thousands of recreational ice, cocaine and MDMA users avoid criminal penalties.

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Woman in spit hood told Queensland prison guards four times she couldn’t breathe before dying, inquest hears

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Selesa Tafaifa, 45, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre

Selesa Tafaifa told Queensland prison guards four times that she couldn’t breathe and pleaded for her asthma medication six times before dying in custody, a coronial inquest has heard.

Tafaifa, a 45-year-old Samoan woman, died in November 2021 after being restrained by staff at the Townsville Women’s Correctional Centre and placed in a spit hood.

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WA police condemned for ‘shocking’ demand for ABC to hand over footage of climate protesters

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Civil society groups call on broadcaster not to comply with order they say is an ‘alarming overreach’ and ‘undermines press freedom’

Civil society groups have accused Western Australia police of undermining press freedom by demanding the ABC hand over Four Corners footage of climate protesters, and urged the broadcaster to protect its journalists’ sources.

In response to the police demand the ABC’s managing director, David Anderson, has said the broadcaster would never reveal its sources, but he did not rule out handing over the vision.

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Man dies after suspected whale collision capsizes boat in Sydney

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NSW water police respond after reports of the incident off Cape Banks at La Perouse

One man has died and another is in a stable condition in hospital after a boat capsized after it was reportedly struck by a whale in Sydney.

NSW water police responded to reports that two people were in the water off Cape Banks at La Perouse at about 6am on Saturday morning, after their unoccupied boat was found circling in the waters.

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Penny Wong refuses to release documents related to Qatar Airways decision – as it happened

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The foreign minister claims public interest immunity over Dfat advice. This blog is now closed

Rishworth won’t confirm adoption of any disability royal commission recommendations, ahead of report release

Families and Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth has refused to confirm if the government will be adopting any of the recommendations made in the disability royal commission report ahead of its public release today.

I’m not going to comment on any specific recommendations.

Obviously, we need to also make sure people with disability have choice and control.

You never change a country for the better through fear, you change it through hope and optimism and compassion and justice.

That’s what this referendum is about.

This is a body that won’t provide funds, that won’t run programs, that will just give advice to the government, and that experience of past bodies, and issues that have arisen has been factored in by Indigenous Australians when they’ve made this request.

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Locking up young people doesn’t create safer communities, Queensland children’s advocate says

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‘Compassion just dissipates’ among public when young victims of abuse become offenders, expert says

Locking up young people makes the community less safe, one of Queensland’s leading children’s advocates said, as police announced another crackdown on youth offenders in Cairns.

Guardian Australia reported on Monday that a significant number of alleged victims uncovered during a police investigation into the exploitation of vulnerable children in Cairns, are also the targets of a government crackdown on youth crime.

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Fire at Melbourne care home being treated as suspicious after residents rescued

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Emergency services say 14 people were rescued at the facility on Mangan Street, Balwyn, on Sunday night

Firefighters have rescued residents who were trapped inside a burning care facility in Melbourne’s east, with the blaze being treated as suspicious.

Many residents made phone calls to triple-0 just before 10pm on Sunday as smoke filled the two-storey building in Mangan Street, Balwyn.

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William Tyrrell disappearance: advice on potential charges to be given to NSW police within months, coroner hears

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Advice from prosecutors about the boy’s high-profile disappearance will be provided by the end of January

Advice from prosecutors regarding possible charges over the 2014 disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell will be given to New South Wales police in the coming months, a coroner has heard.

A coroner heard on Friday that police are seeking the advice from the office of the director of public prosecutions about the case, with that opinion due to be delivered by the end of January.

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NSW police look to replace mental health response program lauded as ‘so successful’

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Exclusive: Force considering alternatives to Pacer program that has seen 48% reduction in people detained by police under Mental Health Act

New South Wales police are looking to replace a program designed to provide “person-centred, trauma-informed care” to people with severe mental health challenges despite the police minister describing it as “so successful”.

Under the Police, Ambulance, Clinical, Early, Response (Pacer) program, mental health clinicians employed by NSW Health are stationed with police to ensure police powers are only used when necessary in responding to mental health crises.

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Gunman Stanley Turvey shot dead by Victorian police after three-day manhunt

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Police say Turvey was armed when officers found him at an Ardmona house, near Shepparton

A gunman is dead after being shot by police after a dramatic three-day manhunt across Victoria.

Victorian police said Stanley Turvey was armed with a weapon when he confronted officers at a house in Ardmona near Shepparton on Wednesday morning.

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‘He was on the way up’: mother of NSW police shooting victim demands mental health reform

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‘It’s not my fight, it is everyone’s fight and everyone has to work together so this doesn’t happen again’, says Judy Deacon

Judy Deacon didn’t shut herself away after her son, Jesse, was shot and killed by New South Wales police two months ago.

Instead, the 79-year-old harnessed her anger. She started lobbying politicians, health professionals and the force itself.

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Woman in NSW siege died after bean bag round penetrated chest and hit heart, police say

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Acting commissioner says use of bean bag rounds suspended in state after Krista Kach Tasered and shot by officers in Newcastle last week

Bean bag rounds fired at Krista Kach during a siege in Newcastle last week penetrated her chest and hit her heart, killing the 47-year-old, the New South Wales police acting commissioner says.

Kach died in John Hunter hospital on Thursday night after officers forced their way into her apartment after a nine-hour standoff. Police claim Kach had earlier threatened officers with an axe.

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Police hunt for gunman who allegedly kidnapped Victorian man before fleeing into NSW

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Police allege Stanley Turvey fired a shot in the air during attempted arrest near Shepparton

An alleged gunman remains at large after evading police and kidnapping a Victorian resident before crossing the border into New South Wales.

The alleged gunman has been identified as Stanley Turvey, with police releasing an image of his tattooed face as part of a public appeal to track him down.

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