'These aren't random events': calls grow for greater police accountability over Indigenous arrests

Calls for police reform are growing, particularly for the independent investigation of police conduct, following three incidents in a month where police were filmed using allegedly excessive force to detain and arrest young Indigenous men.

All three cases – two in Sydney and one in Adelaide – happened as Black Lives Matter rallies took place around the country, and all three are now subject to internal police investigations.

‘I’m not even fighting you’

Last week, an Aboriginal man was repeatedly tasered in the face, chest and neck during an arrest in Sydney.

Footage circulated widely on social media showed the man on his knees with his arms held out, before an officer grabs him and another begins using the stun gun at close range. The man can be heard saying “I’m not even fighting you”.

In a statement, New South Wales police said officers were “conducting proactive patrols when they noticed a man and a woman walking on Oxford Street”.

“As officers approached, the pair split up and the 32-year-old man – who was carrying a bag – fled on foot.”

Police pursued and, as they “attempted to arrest him, a taser was deployed. He was arrested and taken to St Vincent’s hospital under police guard”.

“Police later recovered the shopping bag on Oxford Street, which allegedly contained more than 40 pharmaceutical items believed to have been stolen.”

The man was charged with stolen goods, intimidating a police officer and a number of other charges. He was refused bail and will reappear in court in July.

An internal investigation has been launched in relation to the use of the stun gun during the arrest.

Pinned to the ground in Adelaide

The previous week, on 16 June, two South Australian police officers were placed on administrative duty and an investigation was launched after a video emerged showing an Aboriginal man being held to the ground and appearing to be hit several times by officers in Adelaide’s inner north.

In one of three short clips, a police officer can be seen holding the head of the 28-year-old man against a concrete ledge.

In another clip several officers can be seen on top of the man, one appearing to hit him twice as he is pinned to the ground.

In the third clip, more officers are present and the man can be heard yelling from the ground. A bystander says “she has been pepper-sprayed”, referring to an onlooker.

South Australia police said “defensive spray was deployed” during the incident. They alleged the man was approached because “they had suspicions concerning him being in possession of illicit drugs”.

SA police later confirmed to Guardian Australia that no drugs were found on the man and no drug-related charges have been laid.

The SA police commissioner, Grant Stevens, later said there were “no specific charges pending but the investigation is ongoing”.

Boy suffers cuts after being tripped

On 3 June, a NSW police officer was placed on restricted duties and professional standards command began investigating, after a video posted to social media showed the officer tripping an Aboriginal teenager to the ground during an arrest in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills.

The boy suffered bruises, cuts and chipped teeth, his family said later.

At the time, the NSW police assistant commissioner, Mick Willing, said he was “concerned” by the footage, but was “equally concerned about others who may use this footage to inflame it and turn it into something it’s not”.

“We’re all well aware of what’s happening overseas but this is not the United States of America,” Willing said.

The lawyer George Newhouse, from the National Justice Project, who is representing the boy and his family, says it’s “quite likely” they will pursue a civil case against police, pending the outcome of the internal investigation.

“I find it incredibly disturbing that given the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the public outcry, that this conduct continues,” Newhouse said. “In fact, it appears to be exacerbated by the attention that’s being drawn to it.”

‘The problem starts at the top’

Newhouse says the recent incidents indicate a systemic problem in the way police are expected to carry out their job.

“These aren’t random events. The problem starts at the top, and it starts with the name and objectives of the police, who describe themselves as a force. They’re actually a service and they should be providing a service to all people.

“There is a desperate need for police to divert individuals, particularly young people, from the criminal justice system. That’s what the royal commission into Aboriginal death in custody said, and that’s what the ‘defund the police’ movement is pushing for.”

Newhouse says the language of “defund the police” might be seen as aggressive, but it is a call for greater accountability and transparency.

Related: WA police officer escaped sanction for ‘shocking’ force against Indigenous boy

“I agree with Indigenous organisations and families that have no faith in a process where police investigate police,” Newhouse says.

“The problem with these investigations is that they are binary: there’s either a recommendation for charges, or no charges. And that doesn’t change the system.”

Thalia Anthony, a law professor at the University of Technology Sydney, says filming these interactions is a way of creating accountability at the highest levels.

“They’re forcing leaders to respond. I think their responses are completely inadequate and part of the problem, but at least they’re being forced to respond, which is the first time we’ve seen that engagement with leaders, that they actually feel a responsibility to step up.

“I think public accountability is really important and filming’s really important. But having said that, the reality is now at least a number of these have been referred to internal investigations, and that is a situation where the police are going to be investigating the police.”

Anthony cited the case of an Aboriginal teenager in Perth who was thrown face down to the ground by officers in 2018 during his arrest at a railway station.

WA police told Guardian Australia the review into the incident, which included “the level of force the police officers used”, found it was “necessary and not excessive”.

Though it is not evident in the footage, WA police said the officer had reacted out of a belief that “the male juvenile had spat at them or was preparing to spit at them”.

Anthony cited the Perth case as an example where an internal investigation “does not lead to adequate outcomes or any deterrence message”.

“The first thing [families] should expect is that people at the highest levels are open-minded and willing to oversee an impartial investigative process. And then what they should expect is that that investigative process is conducted externally and fairly by an independent body,” Anthony says.

“There needs to be rapid intervention to have a fairer process and an intervention where the disciplinary outcomes are clearer, because even if there is a successful investigation, often what happens is, at best, the police officer is given other duties.”

Anthony was dismissive of the view of the NSW police commissioner, Mick Fuller, that the officer who tripped the boy in Surry Hills had had a “bad day”.

“It’s incumbent on police officers to always act in a way that protects people and de-escalates matters,” she says. “If they are having a bad day, they should not be on the street and interacting with the public.

“It’s not safe for someone with ammunition to be having a bad day.”