Over 400 children, some as young as nine, were targeted by procedures which were found by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission – the watchdog which oversees the cops – to be “unreasonable, unjust or oppressive.”
The vast majority of these children are described as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander according to the report’s analysis of the police’s own records. NSW Police use a different methodology and claim the figure is lower at 47%.
The questionable program used by NSW Police, called the Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP), is intended to prevent crimes before they occur. It allows police to identify likely future offenders and undertake a range of actions – including “stop, search and detain” practices – in the effort of preventing crimes.
Activists and legal groups, including the Redfern Legal Centre, have often described the STMP as a “blacklist”. Critics say having one’s name added to the program sets them up to be unfairly targeted until the LECC investigation, details surrounding the STMP were largely kept from public eyes.
The investigation also found that police subjected children to repeated and ongoing stop, searches and home visits without any reason aside from being targeted by the STMP. This is against the law, according to the report.
Read the full article here (Pedestrian, 14 February 2020)
