Police abduct Aboriginal children

Police abduct Aboriginal children

BRISBANE — Three Aboriginal children aged between 12 and 14 years say that they were abducted by six police officers in the early hours of May 10. The Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) has complained to the Criminal Justice System and called on the government to review the juvenile justice system in close consultation with the Aboriginal community.

ALS says the police took the children from Fortitude Valley to a remote area of swamp land at Pinkenba, over 12 kilometres away.

The three were dumped and left to walk back to Brisbane, arriving there at midday. The children walked most of the way through the night and slept for short periods at two different bus shelters along Kingsford Smith Drive. They report being scared and cold and fearing for their safety.

A spokesperson for ALS, Sam Watson, said, "The Aboriginal Legal Service routinely hears of various forms of such harassment. We feel that the whole area of police attitudes towards Murri kids in the Valley needs to be addressed.

"The push to 'clean up the Valley' appears to have led to police assuming carte blanche in dealing with young people. Murri kids are being treated in ways which we consider to be outrageous and completely unacceptable in a society which calls itself civilised and democratic.

"These kids need to have their actual problems addressed, problems of homelessness and unemployment. Locking them up and harassing them only makes them more bitter. The police should be liaising with welfare agencies and parents rather than taking the law into their own hands."

The ALS is demanding that all six police officers be immediately identified and suspended pending a Criminal Justice Commission investigation.

From GLW issue 143