New reporting shows that First Nations people are almost 5 times more likely to be targeted for a body search in NSW than non-First Nations people despite police being no more likely to discover anything in either situation. The data shows that 90% of all proactive searches find nothing and are much more likely to be conducted in less wealthy areas and areas with higher populations of First Nations people.
Greens MP and Spokesperson for justice Sue Higginson said “Proactive policing is a technical term for racial profiling and police intimidation, that’s what these numbers show us,”
“There isn’t any evidence that high rates of searches reduces the incidences of crime, but there is a lot of evidence that proactive policing is more about the colour of your skin and your income than your likelihood of being guilty of a crime,”
“Proactive policing is killing people and destroying the small amount of social licence that the police have in some of these communities. A common call is that people who criticise the police will still call them if there is a crime, but this is a dangerous and faulty oversimplification,”
“People who experience abuse from the police will be less likely to seek assistance from them when they experience domestic violence and other crimes, this is simple cause and effect. Proactive policing is pushing communities further away from positive police models and exposing more people to criminal policing that destroys lives,”
“Communities and the Police are being pushed into conflict by Governments that are obsessed with punishment instead of rehabilitation. The NSW Minns Labor Government is walking down this same path with their law and order agenda and the Premier himself has shutdown any attempt to improve the system,”
“If we don’t do better in NSW, people will increasingly come into contact with the criminal justice system unnecessarily. These people will disproportionately be less wealthy and more likely to be First Nations. We can and must do better,” Ms Higginson said.
