police accountability

• More Tasers for Vic Police and PSOs very concerning

  16th Feb 2024

  The announcement this week that some ten thousand more frontline police and protective services officers (PSOs) in Victoria will be equipped with Tasers is very concerning, according to a coalition of Victorian legal and community services groups.

• Victoria needs a new independent police oversight authority – but to work what will it need to look like?

  21st Sep 2023

  To succeed, the new independent police oversight authority called for by many, and most recently the Yoorrook Justice Commission, will need new capabilities and new powers, including the power to obtain information directly from Victoria Police systems and the power to directly investigate potentially systemic issues, including over-policing of minorities, racism and cultural issues, such as sexual harassment. 

• Reform of body-worn camera laws in Victoria is welcome

  21st Dec 2021

  Plans to reform the legislation to allow courts to access video footage from body-worn cameras during civil proceedings in Victoria is welcome.

• Enormous power of police must be kept in check

  20th Jan 2021

  Police wield enormous power. It is absolutely critical that this power is checked and where it is abused, that the police officers are held to account. Jeremy King discusses the implications of the inquiry into the external oversight of police corruption and misconduct in Victoria, which acknowledged the significant failings of Victoria’s police complaints system and recommended the strengthening of the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).

• Body-worn police camera laws in VIC need urgent revision for use in civil matters

  9th Oct 2020

  Laws surrounding body-worn police cameras in Victoria need urgent revision so that access to video footage cannot be denied in civil proceedings, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Legal and welfare checks should be extended to save Aboriginal lives in custody

  12th Sep 2019

  Professor Thalia Anthony argues that to prevent deaths in custody, a custody notification service must be properly funded and available to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in custody, including those who are detained in protective custody or following a paperless arrest.