Complaints against the police

Complaints against the police
Activists may come into hostile contact with the police.  A police officer might abuse his or her authorised power and harass, intimidate or harm a protester.

It is important that these incidents are recorded by activists as they occur. In some circumstances, a range of outcomes from making a complaint are possible.  For example, a police officer can be charged and convicted of an offence if abuse takes place. Even if activists take the view that the complaints’ procedure is a waste of time, photographs or video of interactions may be important to the defence case if criminal charges are brought against individuals.  If film is taken which shows both the police and activist in a bad light, it can be given to the activist's solicitor.  The solicitor can then make a professional judgment to use the film or not to disclose it to anyone else.

Actions against the police
Actions against the police can take the form of trying to resolve the matter informally, making a complaint, criminal charges and civil actions.

The likely levels of complaint to be made about police officers at a protest are not serious enough to qualify for a complaint to the Police Integrity Commission.  Other complaints (assault, not wearing nameplates, rude behaviour, etc) will be investigated by the police themselves. This may seem an unsatisfactory situation, but that is how complaints of this nature are currently handled in NSW.

Informally
The first option may be to take up the issue with the police officer concerned. Obviously this should only be done if you feel safe doing so. For example, if you are under arrest and the police officer is applying force to your wrist and causing you pain, it might be enough to assure the officer that you are not resisting but that he or she is hurting your wrist. The police officer may be caught up in the moment and not appreciating the amount of force being applied.

Similarly, if a police officer is not wearing a nameplate (as required by the Police Handbook), you may wish to raise this with the supervising officer.

Making a complaint
If you want to make a formal complaint, the NSW Police Customer Assistance Unit (1800 622 571) on the NSW Police website advises people to make a complaint to the duty officer of the police station to which the police officer is attached. The duty officer would be the officer’s immediate supervising officer.

This can be effective because the officer can be addressed quickly about the issue concerned (eg, at the end of his or her shift). The supervising officer may also use the complaint as a way of focusing on a particular officer who has been the subject of complaints in the past.

Although this can be effective, some supervising officers may give you incomplete information and may and try to talk you out of taking the matter further.

If the talk with the supervising officer is unsatisfactory (or instead of that, if you have not contacted the supervising officer) you can contact the NSW Police Customer Assistance Unit 1800 622 571 and make a formal complaint.

 However, it is strongly advised that any such complaint be made in writing as well. A written record is important as the complaint might take many months to resolve and details can be forgotten. It is also proof that the complaint has been made.

More information about making a complaint and this stage of the complaints process can be found at the "how do I complain about a police officer" on the NSW Police website.

It is also possible to make a complaint on-line.  Copwatch is critical of the existing complaints' procedure as it is not independent (the police investigate themselves).  Even correct findings of no wrongdoing do not exonerate the police, given the widespread cynicism surrounding the existing complaints' process.

NSW Ombudsman
The police have no public targets for responding to complaints. Months may go pass. If you are unhappy with the way that NSW Police has responded to your complaint (including a failure to acknowledge the complaint), you can make a complaint to the NSW Ombudsman at nswombo@ombo.nsw.gov.au The police division of the NSW Ombudsman works exclusively with NSW Police. More information about the Ombudsman can be found at the Ombudsman‘s website.

If you are unhappy with the Ombudsman’s decision, you can ask the Ombudsman to review the decision.

If you are still not satisfied, you may write to your Member of Parliament.

Federal Police
To make a complaint about the actions of a federal police officer, you should follow the same process specified in making a complaint about a state officer, but lodge the complaint with the Commonwealth Ombudsman.

A frequent complaint with police at protests is that they refuse to wear the identification nameplates.  While this is a breach of internal guidelines by NSW police, it is a criminal offence when done by a federal police officer (s64A Australian Federal Police Act 1979 (CTH))

In practice
There are drawbacks to making a complaint and you may wish to consider this before doing so. The process can be seen as unsatisfactory, as the types of complaints normally made against police officers resulting from activist-police interaction are such that the police investigate themselves.

After receiving written complaints, NSW police sometimes send a senior officer to a person’s home to ‘discuss’ the complaint. Clearly, this can be intimidating. It might be an idea, if you definitely don’t want a police officer to visit your home, for you to say that you don’t want police officers to visit you in the letter of complaint. You can also sugget an alternative venue.

It is the experience of some people who have made a complaint against the police to be invited to a series of meetings. A drawback with meeting the police is that any notes taken by them can be kept secret, and they are not obliged to give you a copy. You can, of course, take your own notes at the meeting.

The process can also take a long time, taking many months to complete.  The police section of the Ombudsman's office has a bad record for responding promptly to complaints.  

During the APEC protests in 2007, over two hundred police officers breached provisions in the Police Manual which requires them to wear identification badges. The Commissioner of Police referred the matter to Police Professional Standards (a police department) who decided to take no action against individual officers.  Police officers also threatened to arrest people (without lawful authority) for taking photos of them while aggressively arresting people. Despite these and similar incidents being widely televised, the Ombudsman has made no public comments about this conduct.

At the Newcastle Climate Camp protests in July 2008, many police officers refused to wear identification badges. A complaint was made to the Ombudsman, who referred the matter to police.  After four months (in November 2008) the police replied with a standard letter saying that it had reminded all officers of their obligations and would take no further action.  A subsequent referral to the Ombudsman's Office led to the Ombudsman endorsing the police decision.