Killers in blue
By Jolyon Campbell
Victoria has been the scene of an alarming wave of homicides. Two shootings in the past week bring to 24 the number of people shot dead by Victorian police since 1988.
In episodes the police persist in labelling "tactical arrests" and "textbook operations", the police have shot first and shot to kill.
The dramatically higher rate of such killings in the past six years compared to past years and to other states has caused widespread concern in political and civil liberties groups. The Federation of Community Legal Services, the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties, Democrat Senator Sid Spindler and others have called for a royal commission.
There are already five distinct investigations into police killings under way or planned, including the recent announcement of a study of the background social conditions and police culture by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
According to Spindler, such an inquiry "would provide useful information but would not have the powers to compel witnesses to attend and documents to be provided and would thus not be able to provide the sharply focused conclusions and new directions which are now needed ... A royal commission of inquiry is now essential."