Policing and detention
Media and commentary related to our work to provide critical oversight of NSW Police, prisons and youth detention centres, to protect human rights and ensure fair and lawful treatment.
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Police watchdog to probe ‘excessive’ bail checks of Indigenous accused
‘The independent police watchdog will hold public hearings into claims an Indigenous man in NSW was subjected to excessive bail checks as part of a broader probe into whether officers across the state have engaged in unlawful behaviour or serious misconduct in enforcing bail conditions…’
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LECC hearings to scrutinise excessive, invasive home visits by NSW Police
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) will today hold public hearings in relation to the use of ‘bail compliance checks’ by NSW police officers in Newcastle in 2014. PIAC has been acting for the people who were the subject of these ‘bail compliance checks’. One of them was on bail and living with his partner…
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Challenge continues to excessive bail compliance checks
PIAC’s challenge to the power of NSW police officers to conduct bail compliance checks without a Court order continues, with the NSW Court of Appeal setting aside the December 2018 decision of the District Court. The Court of Appeal decided that the original question of law posed by police (and answered favourably to PIAC’s clients)…
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Court win stops excessive and invasive police checks
The District Court of NSW has confirmed that NSW Police do not have the power to enter people’s properties to conduct random ‘bail compliance checks’ without a court order.
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Police powers: hearing today on excessive ‘bail compliance checks’
PIAC is challenging in court the powers of police to conduct ‘bail compliance checks’ at people’s homes without a court order. The case, Dargan and Green v the State of NSW, arises from concerns that police have conducting excessive and invasive bail compliance checks, including late at night and multiple times in a night, without any…
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Calls for greater transparency and accountability for secret ‘STMP’ policing policy and its impact on young people
PIAC has welcomed calls by a NSW Parliamentary Committee for greater transparency and accountability in relation to the way the NSW Police Force applies the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) to children and young people. The STMP is a secret NSW Police policy that has been used by police to single out young people for…
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Bungled police response leaves DV victim behind bars
PIAC has commenced proceedings against NSW police and corrective services over the mishandling of a domestic violence case that saw a victim held in custody for failing to appear in court as a witness against her former partner. Sarah* was 26 years old and living with her two young children when her former partner, Daniel*…
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NT Royal Commission highlights national crisis in child protection for Aboriginal children
The NT Royal Commission’s final Report, released Friday, is an indictment of the NT government’s failure to protect the most vulnerable children and young people in its care. Importantly, it has also drawn attention to the national crisis in child protection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. While at risk of being overshadowed…
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Children as young as 10 on “secret police blacklist”: study
NSW Police are keeping a secretive blacklist of people, including children as young as 10, who they suspect may be at risk of committing crimes in the future. Legal academics from the University of New South Wales and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre have released a ground breaking report into the police program called the…
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NSW police may be investigated for ‘secret blacklist’ used to target children
The New South Wales law enforcement watchdog will consider investigating a “hidden” blacklist used by the state’s police force to target children as young as 10 for monitoring despite them not having committed any crime. Details of the the secretive intelligence-gathering tool were revealed on Wednesday in a joint study by lawyers from the Public…