Watchdog must probe 'culture of police violence' in wake of video of handcuffed man being bashed
A 'WIDE culture of police violence' needs to be investigated by the new head of the Crime and Misconduct Commission 'as his major priority'.
Australian Council of Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman made the call this morning after viewing shocking video, obtained by The Courier-Mail, of an alleged prisoner bashing in the basement of the Surfers Paradise police station last month.
Mr O'Gorman said police brutality was continuing despite the presence of CCTV cameras. "If police are doing this when the CCTV cameras are on, what are they doing away from the cameras?" he said.
"They are committing what the cameras show - excessive violence, and in some cases grossly excessive violence, against people who are already restrained."
Mr O'Gorman said a number of cases of police brutality had not been satisfactorily dealt with, including the bashing of three tourists at Airlie Beach police station. He said while one officer had been jailed over the assaults, others who were present and were 'clearly liable' had not been punished.
And the Queensland Police Service, while releasing video of the incidents, had refused to release the audio showing the full brutality involved.
Mr O'Gorman said police had also escaped criminal prosecution for the bashing of homeless man Bruce Rowe in the Queen St Mall, and lawyers had to mount a civil prosecution on his behalf.
New CMC boss Ross Martin SC needed to urgently tackle police violence, Mr O'Gorman said. "In our view, the new head of the CMC has to deal with the issue of police violence both on the streets, and against people in custody, as his major priority," he said.
"The examples that we're seeing speak to a wide culture of police violence that even the Police Commissioner (Bob Atkinson) has acknowledged."
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ReplyDeleteIf this arrogant pig, Ian leaver is actually saying, that the Police has got their hands tight behind their backs because they are not allowed to “ tell someone to move on any time the Sturm Abteilung is wandering the streets and ordering people around as they please. Just like Hitler’s body guard. And if some poor bastard is not following those orders of the Police, for what ever reason, then they have the right to bash them like criminal thugs and prosecute them, on top of that. WTF is the matter with Australia that this man is still employed by the state? He is a parasite on this country’s taxpayers.
In this context, the radical ideas of policing this Country, simply can not be based on democratic principles.
The Police is, without doubt the radical rightwing fraction of the Australian political landscape. These rightwing fanatics, have got no mandate for what they impose on the rest of us, they are just simply there, as a third political power, without being voted in to office or asked to bludgeon citizens in to submission. Well, if they were asked to beat up protesters for no reason then just some pity Council Bylaws, then I ask you; Who are those mighty councilors who have the power and the right to act, with the police as their bully boys of this Nation, outside our supposedly democratic Political System.
These arrogant brainwashed people of the Police forces are weaned into paramilitary troops, believing that everyone of us are convicts on the run in the first place and we have to justify anything and everything we do, (even if it is only harmlessly dancing in the street) if they take offence to it! And because we are all criminals to be pushed, bashed and talked to like dogs, if we can’t proof to them otherwise in an instant.
The only reason, that these ultra right-wingers are as powerful as they are is that both political parties, Labor as well as the liberals use them as the Sturmabteilung of this Nation.
Policing matters simply don’t matter when every step is taken, by all parties to distract the average punter before every election with more important economic questions in just about every political debate in the media. And yeah, we are not citizens to these twisted politicians in this Country, we are PUNTERS and Voters, who are only there to be Lied to, blindfolded by deceit, impressed by false promises, (did I leave anything out?) and convinced by all the above to vote for them in order to support their hidden agendas regardless What is in the real interest of ALL Australians.
So, the Neo-Nazi is slipping thru, unelected, without any mandate, without any scrutiny for their Oppression – Program which they have in mind for the unsuspecting citizen (Punter).
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to see, If these radicals stood for a truly democratic election, with a political Program for each Legislature, how much support they would get from the Australian electorate. Keep in mind that Pauline Hanson and all other rightwing parties have failed in establishing a decent political base in Australia to date!
I admit!; there is a very hard road ahead for any kind of change, maybe even impossible to say the least because of the fiscal integration of your FREEDOM in to balancing the budget.
Take notice at the first thing Paul Newman did when he was elected in Queensland. He started negotiating with the UNELECTED Right Wing force for protection (just like a wise guy in the well known movie The Godfather) and to see how much the right Wingers could squeeze out of the general public in form of infringement notices. How much they can cut your salami that you call FREEDOM, and how they can turn every little mistake of yours in to hard Cash for the Budget.
People! This is a fight that can NOT be lost. If you like it or not People; Georg Orwell’s
1984 is already happening if you fkn like it or not. And it is mainly happening to balance the god damn Budget, the sacred cow. But yeah, you can laaaarf at this till every minute, and every act of yours that YOU call Freedom is eroded and sliced up like a salami, your freedom is turned in to someone else’s money. Any act which you call Freedom doesn’t comply with the Australian police standards, set by the intellectual avant-gardes in Power will feed someone else other then You. If you can’t claim to have freedom, you may as well live in the Zoo and wait for getting fed Bananas day in day out.
Policing Law and order YES!
Holding the entire population of a Country to ransom with false promises of security, entrapment and radical enforcement tactics is NOT a legitimate process in any democracy!