An update on police

I've been concerned about some of the local policing in my home state over the last year - most recently and in particular, the breach of privacy committed around a public figure's arrest, and the possibility that this may involve casual / accidental transphobia. Now, I don't only post here about my concerns; I also write to relevant Ministers (except the neoliberals, from whom I have only ever received one sensible reply that wasn't drivel, irrelevant, or talking points).

In response to one such email (and a release here), I have been informed that my home state's police are responding to recent matters, including:

1. the suspension of four police members and immediate commencement of an investigation into the breach of privacy, which is being viewed with the gravest of concern; 
2. the investigation is being conducted with oversight from IBAC (that oversight is not entirely reassuring, given their recent clearing of police who broke a man's arm and shoulder - see last dot point below); 
3. the investigation will look at leadership, policies & procedures, underlying cultural issues and identify and address any such cultural issues, including improving police training.

The reply reiterated the force's commitment to form stronger links with all the communities in Victoria, and that its 22,000 members are drawn from as many of these communities as possible.

I personally am largely satisfied by this reply.

My personal experience with police in recent years has largely been good, and the raid shook me quite considerably. I'm also reasonably convinced of the genuineness of most of the force command to do better (even if their personal history has been less than perfect), which something that happens in most large organisations (i.e., the leaders may be ahead of many workers on the desire to be inclusive, even if their delivery isn't as good as it could be). Typically, there will be a few activists in the workforce who are ahead of the leaders, and I know that is the case with my home state's police. An example of their willingness to cooperate with those trying to improve inclusivity and interactions with communities is this 2016 survey, assessment and report by ARCSHS, which showed a fairly widespread good intention, sadly combined with  flawed awareness and attitudes - which is the sort of issues that can be addressed by training. (A police officer in another state who was trying to argue it didn't matter what a person's pronouns was, the police would be there anyway, was utterly disconcerted by my response, which was to angrily insist it mattered greatly what a person's pronouns were, and that was often why we needed help in the first place.)

The key issue for now is who will conduct the investigated (are they literate/competent in LGBTIQ+ matters?), and do the terms for the enquiry provide sufficient resources and leeway to realise the intention of force command and the government.

We will have to wait and see. A later issue will revolve around providing whatever is needed to change a paramilitary force of over 20,000 necessarily strong minded (to resist bribes and the damage inflicted by doing policing) people.

Recent mentions by me of local police: 

• police will ease up on enforcement of fines for breach of lockdowns; 
• my concerns about the enforcement - here; 
• a brief exploration of the limits on, and a key public misunderstanding of, policing in the context of democracy; 
• concerns about the behaviour of some police at a social/political protest; and
• a violent raid on a gay venue which left one man with life altering injuries - the police involved were cleared on excessive violence around one month ago, which I included in this post.