Spit hood used on teen girl, says Canberra’s top cop Neil Gaughan

Canberra’s top cop has told the Legislative Assembly a spit hood - a device placed on the head of a person in custody to stop them spitting and biting - was used on a teenage girl. Find out why

ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan has told the ACT Legislative Assembly a spit hood was recently used on a 16-year-old girl, while she was in custody.

Spit hoods are mesh devices placed over the head of a person in custody to stop them from spitting at or biting police officers.

Mr Gaughan said use of spit hoods in the nation’s capital was “rare” but said they were safe “when used in accordance with the instruction”.

“Once a person is placed in a holding cell, the spit hood is removed,” he said.

Mr Gaughan told the ACT Legislative Assembly during a budget estimates hearing police used a spit hood on an “aggressive” 16-year-old girl who was taken into the watch-house after refusing to give up her alcohol.

“She spat and kicked at police,” he said.

The top cop said he had “no recollection or no memory – no record,” of spit hoods being used on children under the age of 16.

ACT Policing Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan says a spit hood was recently used on a 16-year-old girl. Picture Kym Smith

Greens MLA Andrew Braddock said while no one should be spat at while at work there were “more suitable and humane measures for police to use” to deal with irate people in custody.

“Spit hoods are dangerous, degrading devices that restrict breathing,” Mr Braddock said.

“Spit hoods naturally become less breathable when they come into contact with fluids, further increasing the risk of suffocation.

“In combination with other restraint positions and devices, spit hoods have led to asphyxiation and death both in Australia and around the world.”

Mr Gaughan told the Legislative Assembly that ACT Policing records the use of spit hoods in the same category as the use of capsicum spray and handcuffs, and therefore did not have specific data of its use in the territory.

Because of this, he said it would require ACT Policing staff to manually go through every piece of data to decipher the rates of spit hood use in the territory.

Greens MLA Andrew Braddock says spit hoods are dangerous and degrading. Picture: Supplied

Mr Braddock said he was “deeply concerned” about the use of spit hoods in the ACT.

“Spit hoods are not used in most places in Australia because they are traumatic and potentially lethal devices,” he said.

“They have been implicated in the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in custody across Australia.”

Queensland, the Northern Territory and the ACT are the only jurisdictions where it is legal to use spit hoods on children.

South Australia became the first state to ban the use of spit hoods in 2021.