Northern Territory’s Police Administration Amendment Act 2014 has sparked controversy among members of public and a variety of organizations including Amnesty International and North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency. It amends the Police Administration Act by giving Northern Territory police new powers to detain someone for four hours (or longer if they are intoxicated) if they reasonably believe the person has committed, or is about to commit, an ‘infringement notice offence’ .
The new notion of, infringement notice offences, refers to specific offences under the summary offences Act, the Liquor Act, and the Misuse of Drugs Act. The offences that can be dealt with range from, offensive conduct and public disorderly and drunken behavior, …show more content…
Participants expressed a wide range of concerns including unfounded detention, detention without the detainee understanding the reasons for detention, loss of personal reputation, lack of proof and therefore injustices, and the suggestion that people may be exposed to police brutality. The overwhelming majority of respondents believed this law gave police too much power and 78% of respondents would be personally concerned if the equivalent law were introduced into South Australia. The survey also revealed that 71% of respondents held the personal belief that Australian police racially target groups within the …show more content…
The Aboriginal Justice Agency is also concerned that these laws target the Aboriginal population. Dr Tahlia Anthony, an expert in criminology, states that she has noticed “a real intensification of policing in Indigenous communities, particularly in the Northern Territory where they are targeted in the criminal justice system and we see that in over representations in arrests, in courts, in prisons and now I think in police custody because of these types of laws.”
In contrast, the Northern Territory Attorney General proclaims that the arrest system is not subject to racial profiling and that it “quite colour blind”. Similarly, an unnamed South Autsrlian Police officer states that racial profile is irrelevant and believes “Aboriginal incarceration rates are not due to anyone being racially targeted by police: and in regard to the Northern Territory there is a higher population of Aboriginal people there , and I think the demographics of people in the Northern Territory is unique and is different to other
The new notion of, infringement notice offences, refers to specific offences under the summary offences Act, the Liquor Act, and the Misuse of Drugs Act. The offences that can be dealt with range from, offensive conduct and public disorderly and drunken behavior, …show more content…
Participants expressed a wide range of concerns including unfounded detention, detention without the detainee understanding the reasons for detention, loss of personal reputation, lack of proof and therefore injustices, and the suggestion that people may be exposed to police brutality. The overwhelming majority of respondents believed this law gave police too much power and 78% of respondents would be personally concerned if the equivalent law were introduced into South Australia. The survey also revealed that 71% of respondents held the personal belief that Australian police racially target groups within the …show more content…
The Aboriginal Justice Agency is also concerned that these laws target the Aboriginal population. Dr Tahlia Anthony, an expert in criminology, states that she has noticed “a real intensification of policing in Indigenous communities, particularly in the Northern Territory where they are targeted in the criminal justice system and we see that in over representations in arrests, in courts, in prisons and now I think in police custody because of these types of laws.”
In contrast, the Northern Territory Attorney General proclaims that the arrest system is not subject to racial profiling and that it “quite colour blind”. Similarly, an unnamed South Autsrlian Police officer states that racial profile is irrelevant and believes “Aboriginal incarceration rates are not due to anyone being racially targeted by police: and in regard to the Northern Territory there is a higher population of Aboriginal people there , and I think the demographics of people in the Northern Territory is unique and is different to other