By Rebecca Peppiatt
WA Police has been slammed by the Corruption and Crime Commission for its bungled handling of the unlawful arrest of a 14-year-old Aboriginal girl in 2022.
The girl was walking home from a friend’s late at night pushing her electric scooter, its battery flat, not far from her home, when officers in an unmarked car arrested her.
She had done nothing wrong, but it took three internal investigations before action was taken against the officers who arrested and handcuffed her.
The CCC tabled a report in parliament on Friday, detailing how WA Police initially found officers did not have sufficient grounds to request the girl’s personal details, but that the second internal investigation reversed this.
“[It concluded] officers had been entitled to reasonably suspect she may have been engaging in criminal activity, based on youth crime trends in the local areas,” the report stated.
That outcome was sent to the CCC which performed a comprehensive review of evidence, including body-worn footage.
Their concerns prompted a third investigation by WA Police, that led to the officers being reprimanded.
This kind of targeting happens on a constant basis where people are arrested based on their mere look
Indigenous affairs advocate Megan Krakouer
The CCC claims police “departed from various procedures” and handcuffed the girl for too long, but WA Police still claims the arrest was lawful and the force “reasonable”.
“The Commission formed a different view,” a CCC statement released on Friday read.
“The arrest and subsequent force used were unlawful, unreasonable, oppressive and unjust.
“The mere fact of a juvenile walking late at night with a backpack does not objectively provide a reasonable basis for suspecting that they had committed, or would commit, an offence.”
The Commission called WA Police’s handling of the matter “inadequate”.
“Its actions were incomplete, protracted and relied upon Commission intervention to identify and address key issues, including not informing the girl’s parent of the outcome of their complaint,” it said.
“The Commission remains concerned with the conclusions reached by WA Police. However, the Commission does not have the power to substitute its own view for that of WA Police, which is ultimately responsible for preventing, identifying and responding to misconduct risks within its ranks.”
A WA Police spokesperson said they deal with “tens of thousands of positive interactions with young people every year”.
“We don’t always get those interactions with young people right, but we must and will always strive to do so,” they said.
“Our professionals standards unit and oversight functions such as the CCC are there to ensure we are transparent and to continually improve the way we police here in WA.”
Indigenous affairs advocate Megan Krakouer said people were targeted for their skin colour “constantly”. “It’s quite disturbing. There is one law and it should be applied equally,” she said.
Krakouer criticised the Cook government for not addressing Indigenous distrust of police.
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