Police Brutality - Man bashed by police in Melbourne on Friday night - We need help from ATS members

reply to post by sharps


If what you say is true then tell your friend that he needs to go the the police station right away and write a formal letter of complaint (if they have that sort of thing over there.) That should open up an internal affairs investigation or something equivalent. At that point his own department should start to investigate the incident. But please post your findings here. Meanwhile I'll keep a wary eye.

Great response from all you ... Thanks!

I am passing all the advice and idea's that you post here onto B's family.

The latest on B is that he and his family are exhausted physically and mentally.

I have stressed the importance of moving quickly in these matters and I know they are taking it seriously.

More info soon

I know someone else has already said this, but get a lawyer as soon a you can.

Any CCTV footage is the best bet, but unfortunately, you don't have any legal right to just walk in and view it, and although it's possible, I would doubt that management will just let you view it, if for no other reason then they won't want any trouble with the police.

If the Swan and other establishments around there are patronised anywhere near as well as they used to be, there must surely be some witnesses, and with mobile phones being everywhere today, I'd be surprised if someone didn't find something, but again, people tend to be hesitant to get involved. Silly as it sounds, keep and eye an YouTube, if someone did film something, there is at least a chance it will end up on there.

And as people have said, move quickly. CCTV footage isn't usually kept for long these days. Most places store it digitally and it takes up too much room to store weeks worth of footage. Sad to say, but if you can't get some sort of footage, you've got very little hope of any real action. The statement of anyone drinking at the pub will be worth basically nothing if it ever gets to court, and as has ben mentioned, in an "us vs them" scenario, "they" (being the police) will probably win.

Just a quick aside, I should mention the MOST police in Melbourne do a great job, and most of them hate those rogue cops who do these sorts of things, because they get painted with the same brush.

I'm all for holding police to account for their actions, but I think we should all be careful not to label the whole police force because of the actions of a very small minority of fools.

With all due respect if that were the case then the 'good' cops would come forward. As far I can tell from the thread they haven't. You're only as good as the guys you protect

No1 should EVER interfere with an arrest.

That's all I'm gonna say.

Yeah you should. If you see the cops braking the law by being too violent or doing something else. You in fact have the duty to let the cops know that you're watching them. If you don't you might be next and then whose fault is that?

reply to post by PsykoOps


I understand your point.
But in a violent situation...while an arrest is taking place......it might serve better to act as a witness, or snap a picture....file complaints, etc.
Thinking b4 you act man.....

Not saying by any means this poor guy deserves his leg broken, or that anything is rigth about this cop's violent actions.

but......I'm just looking at the situation, circumstances, the violent bar arrests, angry crowd, and in my opinion, it was bad judgement.

You can't expect a cop to stop and answer questions...while's he's making an arrest man......

In America, you will ALSO get arrested (regardless) if you interfere with an arrest.

That's that.

Trying to be the hero...or the judge in this case cost this poor guy a broken leg. Which is very unfortunate.

I'd think it's the citizens right to go up to a cop and ask "what's going on?" Of course if the situation is really violent then it's a really bad idea. A good cop will answer you and tell you to step aside, bad cop will beat and/or arrest you.
There rarely is any situation where a question like that is actually interfering with police. If they claim that then they're one of the evil ones.

Originally posted by PsykoOps
Of course if the situation is really violent then it's a really bad idea.

Which in this case, might be the example. Yes?
But I agree with you 100% on everything else Psy.....I hear ya bro.....

stories like this irritate the crap outta me.

Now the Melbourne police force, who I would imagine have a good reputation, just got painted with a paintbrish dipped in doodoo.

I'm not so sure about that. Original post says that it was a very violent arrest but goes on to say that the suspect was fully subdued. I guess the smart thing to do in this kind of a situation would've just be in a safe distance looking at the officers with cell phone on hand to make it appear that you have a camera or something. Walking up to them is really risky but as far I can tell it's not illegal or interfering with anything. I might of course wrong in this but I'm not citing law, just my own common sense

reply to post by Horza


That is shocking. I have noticed that the police seem to think they can get away with brutality - here in NZ it is the same.

My son was arrested a while ago (just for arguing, basically) and the police slammed his head into tree trunks down the path on the way to the cop car. Also one of those cops was ex Mongrel Mob.

I think police are becoming closer to the gangs in their behaviour.

reply to post by PsykoOps


If I'm not mistaken, it's actually a (Class D) felony to interfere with an arrest, here in the the US.


Not sure about Australia though.

I'm curious now, if Australia has similiar laws. I would imagine so.....

So far, I can't find specifically the laws regarding the interference on a police arrest (in Australia)......gonna get some shut eye and try again 2mrw.

If some1 can post the info, that would be nice, and I thank ya in advance.

*cheers*

Originally posted by PsykoOps
With all due respect if that were the case then the 'good' cops would come forward. As far I can tell from the thread they haven't. You're only as good as the guys you protect

I think you misunderstand me. This seems to be case of a few cops, at most, acting outside the law. The vast majority of the Victorian police force wasn't there, and presumably has no idea that anything has gone on. When I say that most cops are good, I am speaking in terms of the entire police force.

No point notifying any media outlets, they WILL NOT touch this story with a ten-foot pole.

There is a MAJOR POLICE COVER-UP in MELBOURNE. There was recently an "incident" involving the "accidental death" of a "speeding" driver.. the newspaper helped cover-up what happened. I don't want to mention more since it is hidden very well and I don't want any trouble, but u2u me if you want.

It is unfortunate what happened to your brother. What you should do is try to do as much behind-the-scenes work as possible to get the police corruption in Melbourne out in public.

I have a few ideas but don't want to post them in case of incriminating myself.
Like I said, there is a serious police corruption going on right now in Melbourne, and I don't know what the extent is of what these officers and who ever is guarding them can do, but a couple of Youtube accounts were getting banned IIRC who were talking about the incident.


edit: sorry, a few points - yes some police officers in this city are genuine honest people. certainly not all of them are doing this sort of thing, but a lot are.
have you noticed all the attention the media is giving to the oh-so-great police force? that new TV show "The Recruit" is a good example. the media will stay clear of your story and others like it. I'll eat my hat if you get a news station or TT or ACA to do a story on it.

[edit on 14/7/09 by Nventual]

reply to post by Nventual


No offence, but TT and ACA are journalistic vomit, you would probably loose credibility if they had anything to do with it.

Secondly, the government is currently very keen to come down on bad cops (even if for no other reason then good PR), especially after all the revelations of police involvement with the Underworld in the 80's and 90's, and recent high profile events surrounding people like Paul Mullet and Noel Ashby.

I'm sure there is some cover-ups, sadly there always will be, but I think people get far too worked up into believing there is some kind of far reaching conspiracy involving a police force operating completely above the law.

Yeah, you seem to know a lot about the police force.. all the way down to their recruiting policies regarding genders.

Just curious - what made you want to sign up to this forum? It wasn't this thread by any chance was it?

OP, what you can do is visit www.opi.vic.gov.au...
The OPI seem honest, and I haven't heard of them doing anything shady, so it would be your best shot at justice.

Have a talk with Simon Illingworth:
www.ethicalstrength.com...
He use to be a Victorian cop. He may be able to help you. He helped with the Ethical Standards Department that removed corrupt officers.

[edit on 14/7/09 by Nventual]

reply to post by Nventual


No, just a co-incidence, I promise, I didn't actually join for any particular reason. I have had, and continue to have a lot to do with the Police force, and I know that most of them are good honest people who do their job well. I also know that there are bad eggs in every bunch.