Police `beat wars' against gays

By Jeremy Smith

MELBOURNE -- An increase in the number of gay men being arrested by police decoys in Clifton Hill's public places has highlighted what is an ongoing outrage for Melbourne's gay community. According to the Police-Gay Liaison Committee, anything up to 20 gay men a week are being arrested at a park in Clifton Hill on charges of offensive behaviour. The committee alleges that undercover police approach gays, provoke offenses and then apprehend the “offenders”.

The upsurge in the incidence of such entrapments brings into focus what the Melbourne Star Observer -- Melbourne's leading gay and lesbian fortnightly -- sees as a recurring pattern of police blitzes on gay beats. MSO news editor Adam Carr told Green Left Weekly, that these arrests have been going on now in Clifton Hill for about a month.

When approached by the Liaison Committee, the typical response of the police is that they are enforcing laws on illegal sexual behaviour in public. However, Carr argues that “the law that they're enforcing keeps changing”.

“People are now charged with offensive behaviour. It is clear now that police are seeking out people committing offenses. Their agenda is essentially a homophobic one. They are not in fact responding to genuine calls. This is an enormous waste of taxpayers money at a time when the police claim they don't have enough resources to respond to serious crimes”.

The use of police as undercover decoys is not uncommon in many criminal arrests but Carr questions the legality of the police strategy. “As far as I know the legality of provoked offenses has never been tested in the courts. What is happening is that police are enticing people to commit offenses that they wouldn't otherwise commit. That's what people are objecting to.”

This article was posted on the Green Left Weekly Home Page.
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