NT Children's Commissioner calls for legislation to ban spit hoods, restraint chairs

The children’s safety watchdog has implored the NT parliament to pass legislation banning the use of spit hoods and restraint chairs on kids in cop shops.

The Territory is under increased pressure to end the use of ‘torture devices’ on kids, with the Children’s Commissioner calling for a ban on spit hoods and restraint chairs.

The Office of the Children’s Commissioner released a position paper on Tuesday calling for a legislated prohibition on the use of the restraints on children.

In a 55-page report, the children’s watchdog argued bans on spit hoods and restraint chairs would protect kids while not endangering police.

“Spit hoods and restraint chairs are archaic and the case for their use on children is

unjustifiable especially where such devices are used on children who are likely to be victims

of trauma, have significant health or disability impairments, or both,” the OCC concluded.

Acting Children's Commissioner Nicole Hucks outside parliament after the NT government announced it would raise the age of criminal responsibility. Picture: (A)manda Parkinson

The report comes 15 months after an exclusive NT News investigation revealed the continued use of the spit hoods by NT Police on kids as young as 12.

In 2022, NT Police confirmed it used spit hoods on children 27 times over four years, and six incidents where children were put in restraint chairs.

The revelation came five years after the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory recommended that both restraints be banned for children.

Amid ongoing pressure — including an internal review and an Ombudsman investigation — NT Police announced in October it would cease using spit hoods on children in their custody. On Tuesday, the acting Children’s Commissioner Nicole Hucks called on the Territory to go further by enshrining bans into law.

“This is in line with national best practice for youth justice, as well as Australia’s international obligations to uphold human rights,” Ms Hucks said.

The position paper reviewed numerous investigations into the restraints, both in Australia and internationally, and concluded: “There is no safe way to use a spit hood on a child”.

CCTV footage from Brisbane Correctional Centre of a 17 year-old old having restraints and a spit hood put on him.

The OCC said children under arrest were often in a “heightened emotional state”, and would spit as an “expression of trauma symptoms”.

Rather than de-escalate the situation, the OCC said “hooding of any child can be panic inducing” with children often handcuffed or forced to the ground by adults in the process.

“Use of spit hoods and restraints can pose a risk of asphyxiation and death, particularly when coupled with forcing the person into the prone (chest on the ground) position,” it said.

Ms Hucks said restraint chairs — which allows police to strap down a person by their limbs, torso and head and neck — should also not be used on children.

In February 2022 NT Police said restraint chairs were only used when a child was showing “potential or continued risk of self-harm and all other alternatives have been exhausted”.

However, the OCC said there was “no evidence to show their use is therapeutic or causes a calming effect”.

Despite both restraints being described by the United Nations as ‘torture devices’, the instruments still have their supporters.

The OCC found that while police had the right to a safe workplace the latest evidence showed the risk of contamination was “overstated”.

In April, former Northern Territory Police Association President Paul McCue argued in an editorial that spit hoods were “not some Hannibal Lector-type device”, and said the removal could lead to some risk of communicable diseases.

But Ms Hucks said while police had the right to a safe workplace the latest evidence showed the risk of contamination was “overstated”.

The OCC found there was a lack of evidence to support that hepatitis B or hepatitis C could be transmitted through spitting or biting, while there was no risk of transmitting HIV through spitting.

“Significant public research outlines surgical masks are a far more practical and effective measure of infection control regarding respiratory viruses,” it said.

Ms Hucks said de-escalation tactics and health focused responses were proven to be safer for both police and the people they interact with.

Spit hoods are no longer used in any youth detention centre in Australia, while the Northern Territory and Western Australia are the only police forces that continue to use them on

adults.

The OCC said it understood police were adopting a new design for adult spit hoods, known as the Spit Guard Pro.

“While it is advertised as having ‘no known health or safety risks’, the OCC has serious concerns for any use of this or any design of spit hood on children,” it said.

The latest report comes as the NT Ombudsman is preparing to release his investigation in the next few months, which will detail young people’s experiences of spit hoods in NT Police custody.