Police Corruption and Brutality Come Under Microscope in New Book “When Cops are Criminals”
“I didn’t want my kids to grow up with the same intense fear that I had towards police,” Gorrie told ABC News.
“Growing up as a child, if my father was driving a vehicle and he said the word ‘gungais,’ which is our language for police, us kids would throw ourselves to the ground hiding from the police.
“I was essentially trying to break the cycle.”
When Cops are Criminals is edited by Veronica Gorrie. (Supplied: Scribe)
She also wanted people in her community “to feel safe when police turned up at their place.”
But after serving as a police officer in Queensland from 2001 to 2011, Gorrie feels she was right to feel the way she did as a child.
“I realised that my people’s fears of police were well and truly justified from what I was seeing in the police, the stuff that I was witnessing,” she said.
“The stuff I was hearing was very racist and almost unbearable, and I was that sort of person that called it out each and every time, which is why I eventually couldn’t handle it anymore.”
Gorrie wrote about her experiences in Black and Blue: A Memoir of Racism and Resilience published in 2021. Now, she’s helped give others a voice.
With chapters such as “Being Aboriginal is a Crime”, and “The Police Family Violence Offender: a Protected Species”, contributors have shared their experiences of being racially profiled and physically abused by police, as well as witnessing corruption and police brutality.
“These experiences have traumatised these people, and they’ve spoken up, and in some cases, it’s the first time they’ve ever spoken up about it,” Gorrie said.
Police officers right across the country are coming under scrutiny. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica)
“Police target marginalised people, rough sleepers and the homeless.
“Every interaction that Aboriginal people and people of colour and people who identify as LGBTQI+, any interaction with police is dangerous and it can turn into death, and that’s why there’s so much fear in the community.
“We’re scared of coppers. We shouldn’t be scared.
“Their mottos are to serve and protect the community. They’re not protecting us. They protect their own.”
Good cop, bad cop
Gorrie says there’s never been a reckoning in this country, and people who aren’t marginalised find the whole concept of a corrupt police officer difficult to fathom.
“They’ve always seen the good cop,” she said.
“So, they can’t imagine what the contributors have been through. And what everyone needs to remember is that I’ve only selected a handful. I feel like this should be edition one, actually.”
Gorrie is calling for police to be defunded. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)
She wants the police defunded.
“In our community, people are already doing the work to keep each other safe, whereby they don’t need to involve the police. And this work must be resourced and funded instead of funding the police.”
Police investigating police
Jeremy King is a principal at Robinson Gill Lawyers, heading up a team litigating police misconduct cases, usually in the civil court.
Police often investigate each other. (ABC News: Kristofor Lawson)
“There has developed a culture of impunity within Victoria Police, and the reason for that is because 99 per cent of complaints against police are dealt with internally by police,” King told ABC News.
“One per cent are dealt with by an independent organisation, which is IBAC [Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission].”
Lawyer Jeremy King wants accountability. (Facebook: ACT Policing)
He says the only accountability police face in Victoria is through the media and litigation, and sometimes, but very rarely, through the criminal courts.
“If you’re a police officer, what incentive is there for you to actually obey the law … when you know that it is extraordinarily unlikely that if you do step over the line, anything will be done about it?
“And if it is done about it, it’s going to be done by your mates, either in the same station or within the same organisation.”
[SAPC.com comment: The situation is the same in South Australia, where law-breaking cops enjoy the privilege of being investigated by each other. Even when criminal charges are laid, the crooks at the Crown Solicitor’s Office and the presiding judge or magistrate will often have a private chat and agree for the cop to be acquitted. A prime example of this occurred last year when Magistrate Roderick Jensen proffered truly ridiculous excuses on behalf of SAPOL thug Aiden Allt in order to acquit him of an unwarranted and brutal assault on a fully restrained man in June 2022]
King says he’s also spoken to police officers who want to call out their colleagues but have nowhere to go or are worried about their careers.
He’s pushing for an independent police ombudsman.
“Until there is proper, meaningful, independent police oversight, there never will be a change within Victoria Police, because there’ll never be any pressure on them to do so,” he says.
Police officer turned whistleblower
Kate Pausina is a former police officer turned whistleblower who served in Queensland for 23 years, rising to the rank of detective senior sergeant.
She writes in the book about leaving the police force due to bullying, sexual discrimination and negligence.
Community advocates say there’s little incentive for police to do the right thing. (ABC News: Lucas Hill)
“My complaint wasn’t about sexism and bullying and things like that,” Pausina told ABC News.
“It was because I had a legislative duty to report potentially criminal behaviour, and then because I went ahead and did that, the resulting behaviours followed.
“I was a … senior sergeant, and if it’s seen that that’s what was done to me for making a complaint that I had to make, why would a junior officer come forward?”
One contributor writes a chapter called ‘Being Aboriginal is a Crime’. (AAP: )
Her chapter doesn’t end with a solution or advice for others, but she feels strongly that something needs to change.
“There’s just so many excuses that come out, and they’re the same excuses every single time, is that ‘We need more training. We need more training,'” she says.
“Well, how much more training do you need before you can start to get things right?”
When Cops are Criminals is out now.
Source
Police corruption and brutality come under the microscope in new book When Cops are Criminals. ABC News.
