Table 6.1 indicates that breaches of recommendations concerning police practices are concentrated in Queensland and Western Australia. Table 6.1 also indicates that there has not been a significant improvement across the two periods. It also indicates that recommendations concerned with Aboriginal involvement in policing are yet to be adequately implemented. Nevertheless, Table 6.1 indicates that rough treatment by police and arrest for minor offences such as drunkenness and offensive language are a continuing problem. This can be seen by examining Table 6.1, which indicates that only about 20 per cent of breaches were detected by the relevant coroner. Coroners rarely express opinions on the appropriateness of the incarceration except to find that an arrest was a valid exercise of power in a legal sense. There are problems with auditing the implementation of these recommendations through inspecting the reports of coronial inquests. Table 6.1 indicates the number of breaches of recommendations concerning police practices and relations with the Indigenous community. Section 4 covers over-policing and bail (R88-91), while Section 5 examines Aboriginal community involvement in policing (R214-33). Sections 2 and 3 examine public drunkenness (R79-85) and arrest for other trivial offences (R86-87), respectively. Section 1 covers the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by police (R60-61). This chapter examines recommendations concerning policing practices. 1 Aboriginal deaths in police cells are lower than was found by the Royal Commission, but deaths during police operations have increased (for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people).Įxamination of the coroners' reports in respect of these deaths indicates that coroners generally gave insufficient attention to the circumstances of the deceased's arrest, despite Royal Commission Recommendations 12 and 35c. The indications are that Aboriginal people are forming the same high proportion of persons detained in police custody that they were at the time of the Royal Commission.
There were 35 Aboriginal deaths in police custody between May 1989 and May 1996. The relatively high proportion of Indigenous prisoners incarcerated for assault occasioning no actual bodily harm is indicative of the 'trifecta' phenomenon - 12 per cent against 4 per cent for the general prison population.Ħ.5 Indigenous people are still less likely to be granted bail than non-Indigenous people.Ħ.6 There has been some commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community involvement in setting policing methods, but recent indications suggest the need for the commitment to be reaffirmed.
Police initiated interventions result in the laying of charges - typically using offensive language, resisting arrest and assaulting police (or similar offences).
In Western Australia, while public drunkenness has been decriminalised, arrests are still frequently made for drinking in a public place.Ħ.3 The establishment of sobering-up shelters has been a positive development since the Royal Commission, and may have played some part in the reduction of police custody deaths overall since the Royal Commission.Ħ.4 Many Indigenous people are being placed in custody for trivial offences. Public drunkenness has not been decriminalised in Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania. Police car chases of young Aboriginal youths remain a problem, especially in Western Australia.Ħ.2 Little improvement has been made in police procedures for dealing with intoxicated persons. Three mentally ill Aboriginal people, none of whom had a firearm, were shot by police. There were allegations of rough treatment by police in a number of profiles, although these allegations were not accepted by the coroners. The proportion of deaths occurring during police pursuit has noticeably risen in the 1990s. The majority have been sentenced for minor offences.Ħ.1 The case profiles indicate that major problems still exist in policing practices.
Three quarters of Territory prisoners are Aboriginal. The Northern Territory already has the highest imprisonment rate in the country. The Attorney acknowledged the Bill would swell prison numbers. Proposing mandatory imprisonment scheme for a wide range of offences, including property damage and stealing. The Hon D Burke MLA, Northern Territory Attorney General,