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60
Police eliminate violent treatment and racist abuse
That Police Services take all possible steps to eliminate:
a) Violent or rough treatment or verbal abuse of Aboriginal persons including women and young people, by police officers; and
b) The use of racist or offensive language, or the use of racist or derogatory comments in log books and other documents, by police officers.
c) When such conduct is found to have occurred, it should be treated as a serious breach of discipline.
All four cops tackled me, put my head in the mud. I had mud all over my face. They said they had the right to arrest me for giving a false name. They handcuffed me to the fence, got in my face, asked my nasho [nationality]. They said, ‘How would you like it if I called you “Abo”?’ – Corei, 17
Aboriginal Justice Caucus Assessment
Recommendation 60 aimed to ensure that Victoria Police employees uphold the highest professional and ethical standards, treating all individuals with dignity and respect, and making lawful, impartial, and transparent decisions, especially in their interactions with Aboriginal people and other minority groups.
While some actions taken align with the intent of Recommendation 60, significant issues remain.
There are far too many examples of police brutality, use of force against Aboriginal people, and racist policing practices for the Aboriginal community to believe these incidents are the exception rather than the rule.
(Aboriginal Justice Caucus, Submission to Yoorrook Justice Commission)
The Victoria Police Manual outlines comprehensive ethical standards, clearly defines responsibilities for managers and supervisors, and outlines mandatory procedures for reporting misconduct. It includes a Code of Ethics, human rights protections, principles of non-discrimination, operational safety guidelines, use-of-force protocols, and anti-racial profiling policies. Managers and supervisors are explicitly tasked with fostering a professional and ethical workplace, supporting staff, and ensuring compliance with these standards. There are also mechanisms to collect and analyse data on the use of force.
The Victoria Police Manual represents a significant output, documenting policies and procedures that set expectations for ethical conduct, observance of human rights, and non-discriminatory practices. However, the manual primarily reflects policy rather than demonstrated outcomes in practice.
It's just a very, very, very small step…They’ve got ethical standards and policy and everything, but does it impact down to the actual police force on the ground? No. From what we're hearing and what we're seeing, we know it's not. (Merle Miller, Representative, Victorian Aboriginal Education Association Inc.)
There are significant gaps between police policy and practice… There needs to be a significant amount of anti-racism work done to address police treatment of Aboriginal women. When researching the misidentification of Aboriginal women by police we found from their 2020 data that 80% of Aboriginal women who were named as respondents in family violence police reports had previously been recorded as an affected family member. . .We know that perpetrators are weaponizing the system against Aboriginal women and we continue to see frequent examples of Aboriginal women being characterised as violent by police. (Samantha Smith, Representative, Djirra)
We are greatly concerned about the findings from the Our Youth, Our Way inquiry, which revealed persistent gaps in the implementation and adherence to these standards. Testimonies from Aboriginal young people recount incidents of excessive force, racial discrimination, and police misconduct—including physical assaults, racial slurs, and mistreatment during arrests and detentions. These experiences, alongside our own experiences working with the justice system, indicate that the intent of Recommendation 60 has not yet been fully realised.
I don't know a young person that I've worked with in custody that hasn't reported an experience of abuse through the arrest process, even those under the age of 14. In terms of the complaints, very few proceeded to formal complaints. . .The IBAC report shows how many Aboriginal community have reported complaints that haven’t been actioned or substantiated. (Bonnie Dukakis, Executive Officer, Koorie Youth Council)
Recommendation 60 remains highly relevant, as ongoing negative encounters between Aboriginal young people and Victoria Police underscore an urgent need for stronger enforcement of ethical standards, enhanced cultural competency training, and robust accountability mechanisms. Only by implementing these measures can the principles outlined in the Victoria Police Manual be truly upheld in all community interactions. Accordingly, advancing this work is an absolute priority for us.
Priority for Further Work:
High
Relevance and potential impact | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Low (0-2) | Moderate (3-4) | High (5-6) | |||
Extent of action taken and evidence of outcomes | High (5-6) | ||||
Moderate (3-4) | |||||
Low (0-2) | |||||
Potential Actions for Further Work
Anti-racism initiatives
There must be a sustained and comprehensive commitment to anti-racism within Victoria Police, including targeted programs to eliminate discriminatory practices and foster cultural awareness and respect across all levels of the organisation.
Enforcement of consequences
It is essential to ensure that breaches of discipline, especially those involving racist or unethical behaviour, result in meaningful and transparent consequences. Precise accountability mechanisms must be consistently applied to maintain public trust and uphold professional standards.
Implement relevant actions from the Chief Commissioner’s Statement of Commitment 2023-25.
Implement relevant actions from the Chief Commissioner’s Statement of Commitment 2023-25.
Independent police oversight
The Victorian Government must establish and adequately resource a new independent police oversight authority, headed by a statutory officer who has not been a police officer, to:
- investigate and determine all complaints about police (except for minor customer service matters)
- investigate and report on all police contact deaths and serious incidents
- conduct independent monitoring of and reporting on police custody and detention
- on its own motion, monitor, audit, systemically review and report on the exercise of police powers and interactions with the public including customer service matters
- undertake own motion, public interest investigations, and
- publish reports in the public interest.
The new authority must:
- have powers to arrest, search property and compel the production of information including from Victoria Police, and
- include a dedicated division for complaints from First Peoples that is under First Peoples leadership.
(Yoorrook for Justice, Recommendation 27)
Background
The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC) emphasised that the relationship between Aboriginal people and police must be understood within historical and social contexts marked by entrenched racism and systemic subordination. Recommendation 60 highlights that discriminatory, arbitrary, and violent policing remains part of the lived experience for many Aboriginal people. The Commission noted that Aboriginal participants frequently identified interactions with police as a primary source of injustice and prejudice.
The RCIADIC Final Report also addressed the impact of police culture, referencing findings such as those in the Fitzgerald Report, which pointed to an “unwritten code" that discouraged police accountability. This culture contributed to a widespread sense of powerlessness among Aboriginal people seeking redress for police misconduct. Both overt and institutional racism were documented, including verbal and physical abuse, harassment, disrespect toward grieving families, and the demeaning treatment of Aboriginal women. The Commission called for police to lead efforts in breaking this cycle of abuse, rather than perpetuating it.
Actions Taken Since Last Review
Victoria Police
In 2023 Victoria Police assessed Recommendation 60 as fully Implemented noting that they address violent treatment, discrimination, and ethical conduct through various policies in the Victoria Police Manual (VPM). Updates under the Discipline Transformation Project will explicitly classify racist, offensive, or derogatory language as a breach of discipline. Such conduct is already subject to action under the Code of Conduct.
Complaint handling has also been restructured, with a new three-tier classification system introduced in 2022 to guide appropriate disciplinary or performance responses. Racist or derogatory behaviour is recognised as a human rights breach and treated seriously under these frameworks.
Impact
Yoorrook Justice Commission
The Yoorrook Justice Commission heard several accounts of unjustified, disproportionate and unreasonable use of police powers against Aboriginal people. The Minister for Police agreed that racial profiling of Aboriginal people continues and accepted that many police are abusive to Aboriginal people. The Chief Commissioner of Police also acknowledged that:
Frequent, intrusive and detrimental contact between police and Aboriginal communities, families and individuals has been a pattern for 170 years, the effects of which continue to be felt today … as a result of systemic racism, racist attitudes and discriminatory actions of police have gone undetected, unchecked, unpunished or without appropriate sanctions and have caused significant harm across generations of Aboriginal families.
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner's Statement of Commitment
Former Chief Commissioner Shane Patton gave evidence at the Yoorrook Justice Commission and issued a formal and unreserved apology to the Aboriginal community on behalf of Victoria Police for the police actions that have caused or contributed to the trauma experienced by so many Aboriginal families in Victoria.
He committed to ensuring that real change flows from the apology and is doing so through a Statement of Commitment. That commits Victoria Police to delivering 79 actions by the end of 2025 in relation to:
• Monitoring and accountability
• Cultural competence and human rights capability
• Human rights and cultural rights compliance
Relevantly, he stated:
While I know that the overwhelming proportion of our workforce is not racist, the persistent and consistent poor outcomes for Aboriginal people is undeniable. This has compelled us to examine where unconscious bias, and the inequitable use of discretion or unfair systems are adversely impacting Aboriginal people and contributing to systemic racism.
As the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police, it is my role to ensure that real change flows from my apology. I accept this challenge, confident in the capabilities, commitment and professionalism of my workforce to bring about transformational change. We will continue to work with the Aboriginal community in the spirit of collaboration and self-determination, to reduce over-representation of Aboriginal people in the criminal justice system. This is reinforced in The Victoria Police Keeping You Safe Strategy 2023-2028.
This Statement of Commitment is the roadmap that will ensure we continue to deliver change by partnering and building trust with Aboriginal community members and organisations realising better outcomes for the Aboriginal community.
Community Views
Our Youth, Our Way
Perspectives of young people gathered during the Inquiry:
It was hard. Every time they saw me on the street, they’d search me and tell me they don’t want me in their town. – Cadell, 17
He yelled at me, dragged me out and slammed me on the ground, stung me and threw me in a cell for 3 days without talking to me. I got a broken jaw and the police said that they didn’t know my jaw was broken for 3 days. – Karrwin, 20
When I was 16 they bashed me and put me in hospital. They put me in a neck brace. They lied to the judge, saying they didn’t do anything. – Jamie, 18
Police should talk to us with respect. Don’t hate us. Some of them just yell at us. They don’t think of it as doing wrong, they’re thinking of it as fun. – Pearl, 19
After my interview where I did a no comment interview, they don’t like that. I asked to speak to my lawyer before I made a statement. He said yeah, I can do it, but he didn’t want to. He chucked me the phone and slammed the door. – Leroy, 14
The worst thing was probably this one police officer who jumped up and picked me up and like he slammed me – it happened so quick – he put his knee into my back. I was like 14. He was just crunching it and crunching it and he was full standing on my head with one foot, putting all his weight on it, and it was all in public. – Karrwin, 20
After that, he strangled me in the interview room because I was going off. He just grabbed me by the throat and slammed me down because I was being a smart ass. The other officer was telling him to calm down. He picked me up after he put the handcuffs on me and smacked my head against the elevator door. – Kevin, 16
[A police] dog bit me. I got 22 stitches in the leg, split my face open. I was in hospital for two days. I didn’t get interviewed or nothing. They dropped all the charges. – Drew, 19
Some of them, recently when they were chasing me, they were saying, ‘I’ll catch you one day, you little black dog.’ They said to my brother, ‘Fuck this little cunt, this little black dog.’ – Otis, 14
All four cops tackled me, put my head in the mud. I had mud all over my face. They said they had the right to arrest me for giving a false name. They handcuffed me to the fence, got in my face, asked my nasho [nationality]. They said, ‘How would you like it if I called you “Abo”?’ – Corei, 17
I went into an interview room and said I couldn’t remember what had happened. I said, ‘No comment’ and they paused the video, took a phone book and smashed me across the head. Then they pressed play, and asked me again, and I said, ‘No comment.’ So they pressed pause again, hit me again… Police need to stop bashing young people. – Malkar, 19
Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service
Yoorrook Justice Commission
The Yoorrook Justice Commission heard from several witnesses who described their experiences of violence and racist abuse at the hands of police. The Commission heard several accounts of unjustified, disproportionate and unreasonable use of police powers against Aboriginal people. The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service explained to Yoorrook how this occurs in Victoria:
Racism is particularly prevalent in Victoria Police, manifesting in denial of Aboriginality, over-policing of Aboriginal Communities, over-representation of Aboriginal people in police custody, arresting Aboriginal children and young people rather than issuing a sum mons, use of force and explicit racial abuse against Aboriginal people.