By ray jackson, president, indigenous social justice association
(My response to an excellent article by Chris Graham for the ABC http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/39804.html)
there are good cops and bad cops and i would even go so far as to say that there are more of the former than the latter. but, and it is a big but, the culture dictates that the good must cover for the bad and that is where the troubles begin.
of the 9 cops involved to varying degrees in the kevin spratt assault, the culture would have dictated that they remain as a loyal group of coppers, each to the other. had an individual copper spoken up against the treatment being meted out to kevin or even attempted to withdraw from the scene, they would have been instantly targeted as the weak link in the brother/sister-hood chain.
during 1995, whilst working at the aboriginal deaths in custody watch committee, i was approached by 2 young white men who wished to pass on their support on the work of the watch committee. they explained that they had just left the police college at goulburn and withdrew their applications. they showed me the appropriate paperwork.
they explained that they had joined for what they considered to be all the right reasons. what they found was racism, misogyny, homophobia and the all-enveloping culture of the protection of fellow officers regardless of the act performed. this was not part of the classroom training.
this training was performed in the bar every night where attendance was silently mandatory. every night the sergeants would continue to expound the rules of the culture that was never to be broken. they would tell that the life of a copper was far far superior to any crim and they must never allow themselves to be put into a dangerous situation.
always shoot to kill. use whatever was required to get the crim on the floor and hand-cuffed, sleeper holds, knee drops, any force at all but always remember to protect yourself and your fellow officers at all costs.
is it any wonder that now the cops have not only their batons and their capsicum spray but also tasers that they will use them. when capsicum spray was introduced the use of it as a compliance tool skyrocketed. so too the use of tasers as a compliance tool. what other new weapon of compliance will they seek next? one report suggests a heat-ray to make victims comply whilst hand-cuffed to a chair.
it is well known that power corrupts and because of their position in the forces used to protect the establishment, they continue to get away with it.
of the circa-200 aboriginal deaths nationally since 1980 whilst under police care there are quite a few cases that scream out for justice against the police perpetrators but a/i chris hurley is the closest we ever came to a just resolution but there is still a way to go yet in that struggle for real justice.
that is being held up by the corrupt practices of the bligh government re-appointment of commissioner bob atkinson outside of the required processes. this is also slowing down the legal arguments of what punishment, if any, should be meted out to the coppers who allegedly "investigated" the facts of the mulrunji death and deliberately began the cover-up and whitewash, culturally.
police unions in every state and territory rabidly protect their members from any misdeeds (unless you’re a black copper and then you’re on your own) and use their power with the governments, especially the police ministers, and the media to argue the innocence of their members.
police lie all the time in protecting their own. they lie to the courts by presentation of a corrupt brief of evidence and also whilst on oath, they lie to their police ministers and they lie to their superiors. but that is part of the game. but we as a society allow the police corruption to continue also. we must all demand more not only of our police forces but also our governments. long gone is the time when society got the governments and police forces we deserve.
we deserve much better.