Discriminatory policing

First Nations people in NSW are unfairly targeted by police, resulting in disproportionate rates of arrest and imprisonment.

Working in collaboration with First Nations partner organisations, we call out discriminatory police practices that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and pull them into the criminal legal system.

Our work exposes and challenges discriminatory policing that results in:

• Aboriginal people being far more likely to be the targets of ongoing and intimidatory use of police powers, such as searches and home visits;
• restrictions on relationships or gatherings between Aboriginal people, for example, through the use of ‘consorting laws’, which make it an offence to spend time with a person named by police; and
• grossly disproportionate numbers of Aboriginal people in prisons and youth detention centres.

We urge NSW Police to take action to Close the Gap and address the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal legal system, in genuine partnership with Aboriginal peak organisations and communities