By Jude McCulloch
MELBOURNE — The publication by the Sun-Herald newspaper of a photograph of a police officer allegedly pointing a loaded gun at a 17-year-old youth's head outside a crowded railway station once again raises the question of public safety and an armed police force.
The police killings of Angelo Tsakos and David Gundy and wounding of Darren Brennan in NSW and the fatal shooting by Victorian police of 11 civilians in a two-year period have led to public outcry about police use of firearms.
Senior police have assured Victorians that the police force does not have a "Keystone cop" mentality. However, in Victoria a police officer is just as likely to be shot and killed by another officer as by an offender! Police have accidentally shot each other in raids, deliberately shot each other over lovers and killed fellow officers in pranks.
If police cannot keep each other out of the firing line, members of the public have little reason to feel safe when they see police swaggering around with guns on their hips. Despite guidelines that direct police not to use their weapons when the public is endangered, it is clear these guidelines are frequently ignored.
There have been reports of officers shooting in crowded shopping centres, forcing shoppers to duck for cover. In one incident an officer returned fire despite the fact there was a baby in a pram in his line of fire. In another an officer fired several shots in a busy street at a fleeing motorist. One of his bullets went through the window of a nearby flat and landed between two teenagers who were sitting watching television.
At an inquest, the coroner heard evidence that the police decided to arrest a suspect in a public car park at 3.30 p.m. on a weekday in circumstances where they anticipated a shoot-out, without first checking that there were no civilians around. The police in fact fired seven shots in the car park. The father of a two-year-old girl in a parked car told the coroner that the police tactics endangered his daughter's life. He said that when he tried to complain to senior police about the police tactics, none of them were interested in taking his complaint.
The deputy ombudsman (police complaints) noted the following incident in his latest annual report: "The police ... entered a coffee lounge on the basis of prior information as to a proposed drug deal. The target suffered a problem with her leg and was virtually immobile, was known to police and did not have a record of violence or involvement with firearms. Yet, with guns clearly drawn, three members dressed casually, rushed into the coffee lounge where other members of the public and staff were present. Seated with the target were two other persons, neither of whom police say was known to them. One of those persons was the complainant, a social worker. At the time, she said, the meeting was a counselling session, yet she ended up outside the coffee lounge in handcuffs, being body searched on the footpath in the member in charge ... indicated that the manner in which the raid was conducted ... was normal practice and that in the same circumstances he would do precisely the same thing again."
State coroner Hal Halenstein has been investigating 11 fatal shootings by police. In 10 of these incidents, the police themselves were not shot at. In at least seven of the cases, the deceased either did not have a gun or did not have a gun capable of firing. Four of those killed were shot in the back.
Police attempt to justify their increasing resort to firearms on the basis that society has become more violent. In fact, all independent studies have shown that police are no more likely to be shot at now than they ever were. In addition, research indicates that restricting firearms use by police does not reduce officer safety or affect the crime rate.
Domestically and internationally, the idea that peace is found down the barrel of a gun is flawed.
[Jude McCulloch works for the Flemington Legal Service.]