kevin747

Last night my 15 year old son was at a carol singing with his friends at Eastern Beach, Geelong.

2 guys aged around 20 starting having a fight ,a few punches. 4 policemen jumped from a van ,weilded into the guys with batons and threw them in a van.
I'm not suggesting that the police should do nothing but my boy was shocked at the level of response.

His Aussie friends expected it to happen and as teenagers they said that if apprehended they were worried that the police would beat them up.

This really is becoming a very authoritarian country.The difficulty I have is that Australians generally don't complain about this and therefore are more compliant about there rights being eroded.

The state govt sanction private investigators to spy on peoples homes and follow them around for various reasons.I know this for sure

No way will I stay here and pay for this. Has anyone else encountered the inflexibility and nasty nature of the cops here?

Notts_bloke

Only at APEC when they were totally OTT.

I have noticed all the coppers over here seem to be over weight! Don't they have fitness tests?

islandergirl

Last year we went down the NSW coast for a weekend without realising it was schoolies week.

There was a massive binge drinking/brawling/car hooning incident in the house next door to ours where they had to bring in cops from neighbouring towns as well to calm things down, disperse the crowd, tend to the injured etc.

We were impressed by the no nonsense but caring attitude of the cops, but this was a country town so there is probably a big difference in their approach to the city cops who would be encountering this kind of stuff on a daily basis.

Victorian cops do have a bad reputation, but it is a tough gig, I couldn't do it.

kevin747

I accept that point, surely they should not be allowed to wield batons and cause injury.
A friend was telling me that he another were beaten up after a footy match,not arrested and the police stole their money.

Lots of head honchos in the state and federal police have colourful backgrounds.
The difficulty is that the people are too compliant anf d it starts all the way from school all the way to the workplace.
Clever Aussies usually go to the uk.

Fleaflyfloflum

In my experience a large proportion of Australian police are thugs in uniform.
I have only had 3 runs ins with them since being here.

1. My friend was pulled over whilst i was a passenger in her car. She had forgotten to put her seat belt on. This motorbike cop (who had YMCA tight pants on and a huge handblebar moustache ) Hauled her out of her car and proceeded you yell right up close into her face to the point of making his face red!! He took pleasure in humiliating and degrading her in fornt of the public walking by.

2. I was caught up near a large fire in a shopping mall near my office. The area was being evacuated by police. No one was giving instructions to anyone and they were just yelling for everyone to move out of the area, so i proceeded to head towards a pelican crossing to cross the road to get away. A policeman ran over to me, grabbed my arm and screamed in my face that if i took one more step i was being arrested!! :curse: When i tried to ask him what i was doing wrong and where should i go, he just kept yelling over my voice so i could not be heard. He turned me round and literally shoved me! All completely uneccasary as the fire was no where near where we were standing.

3. I was recently pulled over for a breath test. The officer did not speak a word after i wound my window down, just shoved the machine in my face and said "count to 10 in this machine". When he discovered i was clean, he then started asking questions, which i duely answered. He then said "you had better not be lying to me lady as i can be a very angry man when lied to" He marched back to his car and checked the info i gave him. He was extremely frustrated when he realised he could not get me for anything and threw my licence back through my window and drove off!! :curse::curse:

I find them rude, offensive and severely need of a course on public relations.

kevin747

He was probably trying to reach his quotas.My encounter with a traffic cop was not pleasant.He was a boorish,thick moron.
I would never stay and pay for this mob

Nu-Shooz

I knew a policeman here in WA. He came from the UK and said that the system here is quite brutal in the way they are tought.
I was visited by 2 poilcemen regarding my daughter (she had an incident with another girl), they were acting as if she had murdered somebody. I told them to get out of my house and come back with evidence, otherwise to do one!!

They never came back, it was just two teenage girls arguing, but the police acted like it was a mass murder or something.

backagen

I don't think one can generalise about the "Aussie" police, any more than you can about British police.

There are quite a few police services in Australia (as in UK) and they all operate differently.

I'm pleased to say that here in SA I've only once ever encountered a slightly rude officer, and for the most part they are incredibly professional, helpful and friendly (not an easy combination of things to be given what they deal with every day).

In my job I work very closely alongside SA Police and find them to be extremely good at their job and never have I witnessed anything like unnecessary violence or excessive use of force, let alone corruption.

I'm sure some of this goes on in every police force in the world but generally in most parts of Australia I would say it is kept well under control and any officer who does such things is quickly dealt with.

I don't know the full circumstances of the particular incident involving the use of batons that you mentioned, but there may well have been good reason why the police responded the way they did. I'm prepared to at least give them the benefit of a doubt on that unless I know otherwise. Let's not loose sight of who was in the wrong, it wasn't the police!

Frankly as far as I'm concerned if these two 20 year old guys were punching each other, they ought to expect to be harshly dealt with and since the courts won't punish them, maybe the treatment they got from police made up for that to some extent!

kevin747

By all accounts it was excessive force.I don't think that is acceptable to beaten up by four officers with batons as it was completely unneccesary

Petals

Batons is ok they used to shoot them regularly at one time.

Personally I have nothing but admiration for the police and think they do a good job with few resources.

If my son was a police officer and had to take the abuse that is dished out to them on a daily basis, being spat at, etc I would hope he could retaliate a little.

There is an answer if people behaved themselves they would not come under the notice of the police.

I have been breath tested quite a few times over the years, had my car stopped and inspected and they have always been very polite to me. Even been chased for speeding on the Hume the officer was very nice in fact he gave me a warning.

I do not think they are tough enough with the thugs around these days and are always under public scrutiny for hurting the thugs.

backagen

I don't know how true this is given that I have only seen it in the international express, (a newspaper not well known for objectivity!) but usually at least the main facts in each story tend to be based on the truth.

Anyway I read an article in this weeks express about a case where an employer caught his employee stealing 850 pounds from his business and marched him to the nearest police station with a sign hung around his neck that read "Thief. I stole 850 pounds and I'm on my way to the police station".

When they got there the thief was given a caution and the employer was charged with unlawful imprisonment!

It could be argued that the employer didn't technically have the right to hang that sign on the guys neck, but then again it's a form of "community justice" in my opinion, and given that the courts almost never punish criminals I wholeheartedly condone such efforts, as long as they're not too excessive.

In the circumstances I think the employer was morally quite right to do what he did and I'm certain most decent people would agree. The public in both UK and Australia are sick to death of innocent people being given a hard time and criminals getting off time and time again with warnings or similar.

I know this is about the English police not the Australian ones, but it just goes to show that the entire 'justice' system is just as mad in UK as here.

A complete overhaul with a healthy dose of common sense is needed in both countries, but it's the courts much more so than the police that need the most change in my opinion.

kevin747

Eh hmmmmm! Your obviously not blinded by the Daily Express

Next!

backagen

I did say I don't know how true it is! So no, I'm not blinded by the daily express. Nevertheless the story (true or not) illustrates the point I was making.

Petals

Justice is all wrong, you only have to look at the victims they are the forgotten people. We have rehabilitate people but who looks after the victims.

There was a terrible case here in Aus a long while ago, a young woman opened a door to someone and he let her have it with a shot gun, she was not who he was after. She is completely disfigured and has had to fight for justice she will never be able to smell, taste ever again.

Feel sorry for thugs not me, I should be able to protect myself but if we do we are the in the wrong.

Someone can burgle you and if you hit him/her you are in the wrong, what is all that about.

No wonder police get frustrated they spend time and effort bringing people to justice and then justice is not served.

backagen

Actually I agree wholeheartedly with most of your last post, but that particular bit is not true. At least not in South Australia it's not. Not sure about elsewhere though. A new law was introduced here a few years ago giving people the right to use whatever force they deem necessary (provided "a reasonable person" would consider it necessary in the circumstances) to protect themselves and their family in their own home.

The "justice" system in general still has a very long way to go though before it delivers anything remotely like justice.