Key points:
- The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission has called on NSW Police to stop conducting ‘bail compliance checks’ without court authorisation.
- The LECC’s position mirrors arguments made by the Justice and Equity Centre and other legal experts, in submissions to the LECC’s review of how NSW Police have been checking on people at home while on bail.
- The JEC is currently representing two mothers suing NSW Police in the Supreme Court after enduring relentless and intimidating visits to their homes by police conducting bail compliance checks, which the JEC says were a misuse of power and amount to trespass.
- The JEC is calling on the LECC to investigate the extent of the unauthorised police visits, which could number in the tens of thousands, and whether the practice was improper or a misuse of police powers.
The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (LECC) has recommended that NSW Police end the controversial practice of checking on people at home to confirm they are complying with bail conditions, without specific court authorisation to do so.
Bail compliance checks are widely used by Police in NSW – from October 2023 to September 2024, NSW Police conducted 99,357 of these checks, including around 25,000 on young people. The data available makes it impossible to know how many of those checks were lawful.
In its Bail compliance checks in NSW – Final Report, the LECC did not express a final view on the legality of bail compliance checks without authorisation, noting cases are underway in the NSW Supreme Court that will decide this legal issue. These are cases being run by the Justice and Equity Centre, which is representing two mothers alleging the intrusive and unauthorised police bail checks amounted to trespass.
However, the LECC did find: ‘there is a powerful argument that bail curfew and residential compliance checks involving entry onto private property may not be undertaken by the NSW Police Force in the absence of an enforcement condition fixed by a court under s 30 of the Bail Act’.
‘Given the potentially intrusive nature of bail curfew and residential compliance checks on persons including the family of an accused person, it is appropriate that they be undertaken only when authorised by a court.’
It also made the recommendation: ‘that the NSW Police Force should consistently seek a bail enforcement condition to allow bail curfew compliance checks to be made which involve entry onto private property.’
These positions have long been advocated for by the Justice and Equity Centre, since it began investigating this police practice in 2016. The JEC was supported in its view by a number of legal experts who made submissions to the LECC including the NSW Bar Association, Legal Aid NSW, the Aboriginal Legal Service, and the Shopfront Youth Legal Centre.
Quotes attributable to JEC Senior Solicitor Grace Gooley:
‘NSW Police are not above the law. We have argued for almost a decade that they have been trespassing by visiting people’s homes for bail checks without a court order. Police have carried on with these checks regardless, potentially impacting thousands of people.’
‘Now the LECC has told police to cease unauthorised checks, it must fully investigate this potential misuse of police power.’
‘People have a right to feel safe and secure in their home. We work with too many clients and families who are subjected to disruptive and distressing visits by police, multiple times a day and at any hour.’
‘We currently have proceedings in the Supreme Court, representing two mothers who were subjected to scores of distressing and intimidating police visits because a young person in their home was on bail. Police often came in the middle of the night while the family was asleep and demanded the young person come to the front door.’
‘Relentless bail checks understandably cause fear and distrust of police. They are particularly harmful for young people on bail who are trying to get back on track.
‘Intrusive home visits without lawful authority need to stop. If police believe it’s necessary to check on someone while they’re on bail, they can seek a court order using the existing process in the Bail Act.’
Media contact:
Media and Communications Manager, Dan Buhagiar: 0478 739 280
