Updates and latest news

The Victorian Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC) recently released its review of Victorian police complaints investigation, the Audit of Victoria Police complaints handling systems at regional level (October 2016) The report makes a series of recommendations, for which our summary analysis and position is detailed below. The Police Accountability Project of the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre identifies that...

‘This disproportionate use of police power against people of colour is unjust. Targeting people because of the colour of their skin is unfair. It is ineffective. It is often counterproductive. And it is against the law. Racial profiling and the abuse of police powers must stop.’

This speech, delivered in Flemington covers the history of racial profiling and the humiliating…

Brisbane Indigenous Media Association worker and Gumbaynggirr man Leon Petrou was tasered, capsicum sprayed and bashed by Queensland police officers, in a case all too common to many Aboriginal people across the country.

The Flemington & Kensington Community Legal Centre has released its first report on the Police Accountability and Human Rights Clinic’s first year of operations.

The protests in the United States against the killing of black men by police have highlighted the role social media video apps in recording the incidents….

Fourteen Victorian community associations, agencies and peaks have written to the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police Graham Ashton calling for the statewide rollout of stop and search receipting, introduction of police stop data collection and monitoring and anti-bias training to be provided throughout the service.

Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) will begin its controversial public examinations into a long legacy of allegations of serious police misconduct by police at Victoria’s Ballarat Station today

We will have observers at these public hearings, titled Operation Ross, at the Ballarat court complex each day from 23 to 27 May.

Graeme Jensen’s sister Fay Spear has filed an application with the Coroner’s Court to re-open the Inquest into the police shooting of her brother on 11 October 1988

Victorian man Craig Love has today been told that the Victorian Government will compensate him for being assaulted, wrongfully arrested, falsely imprisoned and trespassed against by serving members of Victoria Police.

Coupled with the sweeping legal powers described above, when a government deliberately creates a uniformed branch from what was previously an administrative agency, gives it an aggressive name and appoints a former police officer to lead it, it is hardly surprising if its members consider they have the green light to present a threatening image to the public.

The Court of Appeal has handed down its appeal decision in the matter of Bare v IBAC which could have far-reaching implications for the investigation of complaints against police in Victoria.

A new report, released by the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre today, calls for an independent body to handle complaints about policing, to ensure officers were made more accountable for their actions.

The Victorian Ombudsman has observed that people detained in custody in Victoria face a greater risk of harm than at any time in the past decade.  Against this context, the need for accountability for what takes place in Victorian prisons is greater than ever, to ensure that people are kept safe by those entrusted with their care. But a...

Our contribution to the Royal Commission comes from the perspective of our Police Accountability Project clients, some of whom have been respondents to family violence complaints and/or victims of family violence.

This short submission highlight common concerns to both groups, which relate to how police have responded to family violence issues and how those complaints in turn, are received and…

The family and community trauma caused by a death in custody cannot be over-stated.

A respected Aboriginal man from central Australia died in Darwin’s police cells two weeks ago. Few facts are known: he was taken into custody for minor alcohol-related offences, he was detained under new “paperless arrest” police powers, he was found dead in his cell about three…

Before these cameras are rolled out across the state, Victorians should consider whether police body cameras are a desirable approach to counter police misconduct. That is, we should ask: Will BWCs actually improve police accountability?

Victoria Police are currently piloting ‘stop & search’ receipting in Dandenong and Moonee Valley. Here are five things you should know about receipting.

On 15th April 2015 an IBAC hearing into a potential culture of violence within the Victoria Police Service at Ballarat was due to be heard at the County Court in Melbourne.

The Police Accountability Project is deeply concerned by accounts given by people experienced the police raids in Melbourne this weekend, of being racially abused and assaulted by Police members involved.

Police and Protective Services Officers (PSOs) will issue receipts to members of the community initially in the Moonee Valley and Greater Dandenong Local Government Areas (LGAs) from 30 March until the end of December 2015

We are calling for a wider review of powers, weapons and training associated with the PSO program currently in operating on Victoria’s public transport network. As reports of the use of capsicum weapons against children stretch over many years it is important that this is not treated as an isolated incident.

The Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay announced his resignation in early January 2015, to near universal acclaim. Anthony Kelly from the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre provides a restrospective on his work dealing with racism

An appeal decision has been handed down in the Victorian Supreme Court which could set back Victoria Police efforts to end racial profiling in Victoria.

The outcome overturns magistrate Duncan Reynolds’ 2013 ruling that police do not have an “unfettered” right to randomly stop and check vehicles.

Professor Philip Alston delivered a scathing indictment of Australia’s recent legislative response to perceived security issues. Titled “Could Australia really become a police state?” the speech detailed the striking similarities between the Federal Government’s recent swathe of security measures and the activities of totalitarian governments throughout modern history.