Category Archives: Australian police and policing

Victoria police officer suspended over alleged Nazi salutes and ‘Heil Hitler’ comments

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The female sergeant, a veteran of 40 years in the force, allegedly made banned gesture on Tuesday and Wednesday in front of colleagues

The Victoria police chief commissioner has apologised to the Jewish community after a veteran sergeant allegedly performed a Nazi salute to colleagues at the police academy twice this week.

The 65-year-old woman was suspended with pay on Friday evening while police launched a criminal investigation into the alleged incidents, which included her allegedly saying “Heil Hitler” on both occasions, Shane Patton said.

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Half of Australia’s law enforcement agencies have banned officers using encrypted messaging apps

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Exclusive: After NSW ban on the likes of WhatsApp and Signal, federal counterparts permit a ‘limited number’ which they declined to reveal

Half of the Australian law enforcement agencies across Australia have banned their officers from using messaging apps like WhatsApp and Signal, after New South Wales police last week banned the practice.

Last week, the NSW police force said it had introduced security software that meant “social media and other personal apps will not work or be downloadable” on NSW police force issued devices.

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Woman’s arm severed in dog attack in north Queensland

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Police euthanise the animal after being called to an incident at a property in Townsville

A woman has been taken to hospital after her arm was severed in a vicious dog attack in north Queensland.

Emergency services were called to reports of a dog mauling at a Lonerganne Street property in Garbutt, a suburb of Townsville, just after 7am on Friday.

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Alleged domestic violence perpetrators to wear ankle bracelets under NSW bail reforms

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Corrective services will electronically monitor whereabouts of people released from custody while charged with serious offences

Alleged perpetrators charged with serious domestic violence offences in New South Wales will wear ankle bracelets and have their movements tracked around the clock if they are granted bail.

The NSW government announced the changes would take effect on Friday, and would involve corrective services electronically monitoring alleged perpetrators against geographic bail conditions using GPS technology.

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NSW police union pushes back at premier’s suggestion pro-Palestine protests divert resources from crime

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Police association boss says vast majority of officers at weekend rally were ‘doing user-pay or cancelled rest day’ shifts

The head of the New South Wales police union has denied any suggestion that patrolling weekly pro-Palestine protests is making it difficult to respond to or investigate crime across the state.

Kevin Morton’s comments came as the premier, Chris Minns, was forced to deny he had lost control of the Labor caucus after several of his MPs expressed alarm at his statement that police should be able to reject a protest permit based on the cost of patrolling it.

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Man dies after being shot by police amid alleged theft of car belonging to Labor MP’s husband

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A 26-year-old man has died after he and another man, 34, were shot by police while allegedly driving a stolen car at officers

A man shot by police in Wentworthville in Sydney last week after an alleged car theft has died, NSW police said.

Two men were shot by police after officers were called to the scene at about 12.10pm on Friday, responding to a report of a stolen car in a Wentworthville car park in Sydney’s west. The officers fired their guns at the vehicle after it was allegedly driven at them.

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‘Fly high beautiful girl’: Thorneside residents pay tribute to eight-year-old girl and babysitter lost in house fire

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Investigators are working to determine cause of blaze that claimed lives of Raven Contini and 31-year-old Stephanie Ryan

Floral tributes and messages of condolence are gathering outside a home east of Brisbane after a blaze killed an eight-year-old girl and her babysitter.

Raven Contini and 31-year-old Stephanie Ryan, were found dead in the Thorneside home after a fire ripped through the townhouse on Sunday morning.

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Australian politicians mark 7 October anniversary – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

904 Australians and their immediate family members have now left Lebanon on assisted-departure flights – in addition to those who left on partner and commercial flights.

407 Australians left on 5 October, and 448 on 6 October.

Why so silent, Mark? This, I have been asked a lot. I have thought about it a lot too. I have said little in public about the Hamas-Israel war because I am not the foreign affairs minister. I am Australia’s first law officer. A minister, not a commentator. Just because I’m not talking doesn’t mean I don’t understand.

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Second body found at scene of Queensland house fire that killed girl, 8

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Body believed to be that of missing 31-year-old babysitter located at destroyed townhouse in Thorneside

Queensland police have found the body of a second person at the scene of a house fire at Thorneside, south of Brisbane, believed to be that of a missing 31-year-old woman.

It comes after the body of an eight-year-old girl was found by Queensland Fire and Emergency Services after the fire was extinguished on Sunday.

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Sydney woman allegedly killed and dismembered husband in ‘bizarre’ murder case, police say

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Police say the man was reported missing last year and alleged his body was cut up with power tools to hide the remains

A Sydney woman has been charged with murdering, dismembering and disposing of her husband in bins almost 18 months after he was last seen, in what one detective described as one of the most “bizarre” cases police have seen.

New South Wales police have alleged Nirmeen Noufl, 53, intentionally killed and cut up the body of 62-year-old Mamdouh Noufl last year at their family home of more than 10 years in order to hide his remains. The incident is being treated as a domestic violence murder.

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Three men shot by police in unrelated Sydney and Melbourne incidents, two in critical condition

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NSW police fired at two men in a car allegedly driven at them, while in Hillside, Victoria police shot a man allegedly armed with a knife at scene of stabbing

Three men have been shot by police in two separate and unrelated incidents – with two fighting for their lives in hospital – in Sydney and Melbourne.

Acting assistant commissioner Paul Dunstan said at about 12.10pm on Friday, officers responding to a report of a stolen car in a Wentworthville car park in Sydney’s west, fired their guns at the vehicle after it was allegedly driven at them.

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Global plea for information over alleged murder of Queensland psychologist found dead near lawnmower

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Police interested in speaking with women around the world they believe may have met alleged victim’s husband on dating apps

Queensland police have cast a nationwide and international call to women linked to the husband of a woman who was found dead in suspicious circumstances near a lawnmower.

Police on Friday said Robert Crawford had “connected” with women across Australia and around the world, including some via dating apps, before Frances Crawford’s death in the early hours of 30 July.

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Australia news live: PM introduces Tu Le as Labor challenger for western Sydney seat of Fowler

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A joint police statement warns “there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence on any day of the year” in the lead-up to protests planned for the 7 October anniversary.

The statement comes from NSW police, Northern Territory police, the Queensland police service, South Australia police, Victoria police, Western Australia police, Tasmania police and Australian federal police.

Police respect the right to peacefully protest and assemble in Australia, however, there will be no tolerance for illegal behaviour or violence on any day of the year.

In Australia, there are offences that prohibit behaviour that incites or advocates violence or hatred based on race and religion, including the display of prohibited symbols in public under these circumstances.

The commission can confirm it carried out operational activity today at Parliament House. This was in relation to an ongoing investigation.

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Police ‘groomed’ Melbourne lawyer turned informer Nicola Gobbo, court hears

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Mounting deaths in Melbourne’s gangland wars heaped pressure on detectives, court told

Nicola Gobbo was a young and vulnerable barrister “looking for a way out” of dealing with gangland clients like Tony Mokbel when police saw an opportunity, her lawyers claim.

At 25 years old, the youngest woman in Victoria to sign the bar roll, suddenly found herself “neck deep” in the underworld and feared for her personal safety and wellbeing.

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Man, 47, charged with murder after woman found dead at NSW property

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Police say the 46-year-old woman was found with significant injuries at Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley on Friday afternoon

A man has been charged with murder after his wife was found with fatal injuries at the couple’s Hunter Valley, NSW, property.

Emergency services were called to a property in Pokolbin, about an hour’s drive west of Newcastle, just after 6pm on Friday.

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A police strip-search left Mysa feeling dehumanised. New data reveals the extent of the practice in NSW

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Exclusive: Figures made public for the first time expose ‘problem with police accountability’, lawyer says

Mysa Le felt “vulnerable and completely helpless” when she was ordered by police to undress in front of them so they could search her body for drugs.

Le was strip-searched at Sydney’s Midnight Mafia music festival in May 2018, where she said two female police officers took her into a booth and told her to take off her clothes without explaining what was happening.

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Teenager killed in Woodgrove shopping centre stabbing attack

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The alleged altercation took place at Woodgrove shopping centre in Melton West

A teenage boy has been stabbed to death after an altercation at an outdoor food court area at a Melbourne shopping centre.

Emergency services were called to Woodgrove shopping centre in Melton West just before midday on Tuesday. First responders attempted to provide CPR to the teenage boy, but he died at the scene.

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Brother of man arrested over 1977 Easey Street cold case says he is ‘100% sure’ of his innocence

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Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was arrested at Rome airport and held for the alleged murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett

The brother of a man accused of the 1977 Easey Street killings in Melbourne says he is “100% sure” that there has been a mistake and his brother is innocent of the double murder.

Perry Kouroumblis, 65, was arrested at Rome airport on Thursday Australian time and held for the murders of Suzanne Armstrong and Susan Bartlett. Police plan to apply to Italy for extradition for the man to face charges in Australia.

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Man fights for life after allegedly being shot twice in rural NSW home invasion

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Police say victim, 46, was at home in Hillston, near Griffith, when he was shot in the abdomen by an intruder on Friday morning

A man is fighting for life in hospital after allegedly being shot twice in the abdomen when a group of intruders entered his home in a small town in rural New South Wales.

Police alleged the 46-year-old man was inside a home in Burns Street in Hillston, about 100km north-west of Griffith in the state’s Riverina region, when three people – one armed with a gun – came inside the house about 2.30am Friday.

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Privacy experts shocked as Hobart council agrees to beam live CCTV footage into police station

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Sharing livestream from 330 council-operated cameras with force via ‘portal’ in Hobart police station labelled ‘a massive intrusion on rights’

Police in Hobart have been granted real-time access to footage from hundreds of city council CCTV cameras in a move labelled “so intrusive and oppressive” by the Australian Privacy Foundation.

The CCTV partnership between Tasmania police and the City of Hobart was announced on Thursday but has been operating secretly for weeks.

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