You’re white, ecstatic-peace. You’ve never had to fear for your life upon seeing the police. Instead, you grow up thinking that they’re your best friends. That’s your privilege. You’re lucky that you feel you can trust them. You don’t really get a say here.
Let me list for you some instances of police brutality IN AUSTRALIA.
(warning for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: the below text and links contain names and images of Indigenous persons now deceased):
Kevin Spratt, a 45 year old Aboriginal man, was tasered 13 times while up to 9 officers surrounded him in August 2008. CCTV footage showed the unarmed and subdued man screaming constantly. A week later, while imprisoned, Mr Spratt was tasered again multiple times when officers tried to “extract” him from his cell. No officers were charged over the incident, despite a police internal inquiry finding that two officers had used undue and excessive force. Mr Spratt suffered fractured ribs, a collapsed lung, a fracture of the humerus and a dislocated shoulder.
Mr Ward, a 46 year old cultural man and elder, was “cooked to death” in a prison van so hot that that he suffered third degree burns when he collapsed to its bare metal floor on 27 January 2008. He had been arrested for drink driving. Even with an ice bath, hospital staff could not reduce the 46-year-old father-of-four’s body temperature to below 41C after a four-hour ride through the Outback.
A 14 year old Aboriginal boy from Crescent Head was tasered by police after refusing police requests to get out from under a van on January 2, 2011. The police officer on duty, Senior Constable Matthew Phillips, sprayed capsicum or OC spray in the youth’s eyes, dragged him out from under the van and proceeded to taser the boy as the situation was “deteriorating” due to the boy’s “violent nature”. How is a 14 year old boy of any threat to big and armed police?
Mr Briscoe, a 28 year old Anmatyerre man, was arrested for drunkenness on 4 January 2012 along with 3 other Aboriginal men. After becoming agitated in a room with police officers, Mr Briscoe swung his fist at one of the officers. Although he was drunk and the swing only half-hearted, the policeman pushed Mr Briscoe hard on to the ground hand held him face down and sat on his back while other officers put their feet on him, said a witness who was arrested with Mr Briscoe. While on the ground, Mr Briscoe struggled to breathe and began to bleed. “They were really rough, and they were laughing at the same time,” a witness said. Mr Briscoe was found unconscious just after 2am the same night and died in a hospital the next day. Whilst no official cause of death has been announce, his family have information of the autopsy that shows that “asphyxia”, or suffocation, is the most likely cause of death. The testimony of two witnesses who were in custody with Mr Briscoe indicates that police may have suffocated him while roughing him up at the police station.
There are many more stories like those listed above.
The police are being extremely peaceful, polite and professional here, right?!
Racism is global. Talking about police brutality in Australia is extremely relevant and you’re ignorant if you believe that anything is any better here.
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