First published in The Echo news digest and newspaper sources index.
Issue outline by J M McInerney
What they said ... `Why did they have to use such force? John may have waved things around, but he was not a violent person ...' Charmaine Fogarty, the wife of a 34-year-old man shot by police while allegedly threatening them with a hammer
`Any normal thinking person would realise the damage a hammer could do in the hands of the wrong person' Senior Sergeant Danny Walsh of the Victoria Police Association
Victorian police have shot dead three people since the start of this year. On February 11, 1998, a 32-year-old man was fatally shot after he pointed a rifle at special operations group officers and threatened to shoot them. The shooting occurred at the end of a six-hour siege. On Sunday, April 5, 1998, a 24-year-old Maryborough man was shot dead after he allegedly aimed a rifle at police. The incident occurred after the car in which the man was a passenger was pulled over for a routine check. Though initial media reports stated the man had fired at police, his rifle was subsequently found to be unloaded. On Friday, April 10, 1998, a 34-year-old man, who had apparently been attempting to break into an ATM with a claw hammer, was shot dead after he had allegedly menaced two officers with the weapon.
The last two shootings, in particular, have led to calls from civil libertarians and other groups for a review of police firearms training procedures. More general criticisms have suggested that Victoria Police members have an aggressive and confrontationalist posture.
Background
Victoria Police have fatally shot 35 people since 1988. 1994 was the worst single year with eleven people shot dead by police. Civil liberties groups were concerned that twenty-two had been fatally shot be police in Victoria in the six year period to 1994. This figure was far higher than that in any other state and led suggestions that Victorian police used firearms too readily. Such concerns led Victoria Police to introduce an officer retraining program, Project Beacon, in 1994.
Project Beacon stresses `safety-first' and encourages strategies such as risk assessment, tactical withdrawal, negotiation and containment. The program aims to reduce Victoria Police's use of firearms to the minimum judged necessary.
As a further means of reducing police reliance on firearms, trials of capsicum spray began in April, 1996. Victoria Police announced in January, 1998, that it would issue spray to all officers. Some 8000 cans of the spray on order have still to be issued. Suggestions that there have been any unanticipated delays in the distribution of the spray have been denied by Victoria Police.
Some have credited the use of the spray with having played a part in reducing police use of guns in 1996 and 1997.
The number of fatal Victoria Police shootings since 1994 are as follows. In 1994 eleven people were fatally shot; in 1995 three people; in 1996 no one was shot dead; in 1997 two people and in the first four months of 1998, three people have died.
There are a number of Internet sites dealing with police use of force. Most appear to relate to overseas police forces, particularly in the United States. Possibly more useful, from the point of view of making comparisons with the situation in Victoria, is a site dealing with the use of force by police in Ontario, Canada.The site reproduces In Search of Police Accountability: Report of the Community Coalition Concerned about Civilian Oversight of Police. The Community Coalition Concerned about Civilian Oversight of Police was formed in October, 1996. The report gives detailed background information on why the coalition was formed; it gives information about the 14 people fatally shot by Ontario police between August, 1978 and January, 1997; and makes a series of detailed recommendations as to how police could be made more accountable for any shootings which occur.
An Internet document of direct interest from an Australian point of view is a reproduction of a news report originally published in The Age on July 6, 1997. The item is titled, Could this killing have been avoided? It was written after the fatal police shooting of Roni Levi, on Bondi Beach, NSW, in July, 1997. It makes favourable comparisons between Operation Beacon and the firearms training given NSW police. It also gives background on why Operation Beacon was begun in Victoria and some information on the containment procedures recommended as part of Operation Beacon.
Arguments suggesting that Victorian police officers use force too readily
It is claimed that in some instances Victorian police resort to the use of force too readily.
This claim has been made in relation to the shooting of the 34-year-old man allegedly attempting to break into an ATM and then menacing police with a hammer.
A friend of the dead man's, who was with him at the time of the shooting, has claimed, `I looked around and saw the police divisional van screaming up the road.
The next thing I see is the police get out and without any delay, or even time to speak to John, fired their guns.
Bang, bang, two quick shots. It was awful, people just stood around.'
It has been suggested that in this instance the officers concerned reacted too quickly, before attempting, for example, to talk the man into dropping the hammer.
Ms Felicity Hampel, QC, the vice-president of Liberty Victoria, has claimed that negotiation and retreat were an important part of police procedures. The implication here seems to be that the police did not use all the alternatives available to them to deal with the man.
It has also been suggested that the officers responded with greater force than the threat they faced demanded.
Mr Pauline Spencer, the Fitzroy Legal Service's project officer, has claimed that the use of deadly force was not appropriate on a man who threatened police with a hammer.
According to this line of argument, police, in common with all other members of the community, should respond proportionately to any threat. It these circumstances, it has been claimed, drawing a gun and shooting a potential attacker is an overreaction to someone armed only with a hammer.
A similar point has been made by Ms Hampel who has questioned how the officers concerned could have been in such fear for their lives that their only option was to shoot.
It has also been claimed that there is a tendency among police to defend the actions of fellow officers before an incident has been investigated.
Criticism has been levelled, for example, at police statements that the man shot at Maryborough had fired at police when later investigations revealed his gun was unloaded.
Ms Jude Wallace, the president of Liberty Victoria, stated, `It's always been our view that a thorough investigation of an incident should be undertaken before any announcement, particularly a perfunctory exoneration, is made.'
It has further been claimed that the two shootings in April of this year may indicate that police training is inadequate.
Ms Pauline Spencer of the Fitzroy Legal Service has claimed that the most recent shooting grew out of a situation which police training guidelines would classify as `safety first', requiring strategies such as backing off, negotiation and containment.
Ms Spencer has suggested that the fatal shooting of the man with the hammer `shows training methods are not working'.
The Age, it its editorial of April 7, written after the shooting of the Maryborough man who allegedly pointed a rifle (later found to be empty) at police, noted that the incident may indicate the need to review the effectiveness of Project Beacon.
The editorial concluded, `An independent review of officers' firearms training would help to reassure the community that what needs to be done will be done.'
Others have claimed that training, alone, will not prove sufficient because what lies behind these shootings is a total police culture which promotes violence and `lethal force' as a primary response.
Dr Arthur Veno, the director of Monash University's centre for police and justice studies, has claimed, `How do you change a culture where fatal force is not only acceptable but the dominant response ...'
Dr Veno has argued that unless research is done immediately into the mentality and attitudes of some force members, the shootings are likely to continue.
Relatedly, some critics have suggested that officers carrying arms on all or most occasions when they appear in public contributes to this supposed `culture of violence'.
David Ellis, in a letter published in The Age on April 14, 1998, noted with disapproval that the police officers in attendance at a billycart derby to which he recently took his children were all armed with guns.
Mr Ellis concludes, `We must limit police access to guns where that access cannot be justified ... The community does not have to accept a police force that even on general interaction with the public is armed and ready to kill as a matter of course.'
Finally, it has been suggested that the Victorian Government may be at fault because of supposed delays in the supply of capsicum spray to all officers. The Victorian Opposition has claimed that budget cuts were responsible for holding up the issuing of the spray.
It has been argued that had the two officers who confronted the man armed with a hammer had capsicum spray this may have been sufficient to subdue him.
Mr John Bennett, the president of the Australian Civil Liberties Union, has suggested that in this situation death might have been avoided if the spray had been available.
There is, however, concern that capsicum spray use be carefully regulated as it has been claimed that studies in the United States indicate that the spray has been associated with some 60 deaths.
Arguments suggesting that Victorian police officers do not use force too readily
Those who defend police recourse to force maintain that critics generally do not view the situation from the perspective of officers in a potentially threatening situation.
It has been claimed that critics can be wise after the event, but that any officer in an apparent danger must make the best decision possible with the information available.
Assistant Commissioner (crime), Mr Graeme McDonald, has claimed that the officers on the scene at Maryborough would have had no reason to believe that the weapon that was pointed at them was not loaded.
It has also been claimed that without being on the scene it is easy to minimise the degree of danger in which an officer may be placed.
This point has been made by Police Association secretary, Senior Sergeant Danny Walsh, with regard to the shooting of the 31-year-old man armed with a hammer. Senior Sergeant Walsh has advised people against `second guessing what may or may not have happened'.
Senior Sergeant Walsh has also stressed that weapons other than guns can kill people. He has claimed that `any normal thinking person would realise the damage a hammer could do in the hands of the wrong person.' Senior Sergeant Walsh has also claimed that injuries caused from the blow of a hammer could be fatal.
It has also been claimed that many critics are unaware of the large number of threatening situations which police are required to face. Some defenders of Victoria Police have suggested that police shootings are merely a necessary respond to an increasingly violent society.
This point has been made by Herald Sun commentator, Paul Gray. Mr Gray has claimed, `The evidence of rising violence faced by police is clear-cut.'
Mr Gray then went on to cite Ray Shuey, Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner for Training, who has claimed that Victoria Police members now deal with at least three life-threatening situations a week.
Mr Gray also cites figures from the 1994 Task Force Victor study which indicate that the rate of serious assaults against police doubled between 1973 and 1993, rising from 64 a year to 133 a year.
Mr Ray has also been reported elsewhere as claiming that Victoria Police handle the vast majority of threatening situations in which they find themselves, without having to use their guns.
Mr Shuey has claimed, `Ninety per cent of our work is talking, negotiating (but) occasionally you have individuals who won't listen to reason.'
Mr Gray further claims that opposition to Victoria Police's use of force comes from `a hard core of community groups' and is not an attitude shared by the community at large.
Mr Gray refers to the results of a number of surveys designed to reveal public attitudes toward the police which apparently suggest that the vast majority of people are not concerned that the police are using excessive force.
In addition, it has been claimed, Victoria Police has been successful in reducing the incidence of gun use among its members and that its officer retraining program, Project Beacon, has been a success.
The Age, in its editorial of April 7, 1998, (written after the Maryborough shooting but before the shooting of the man armed with a hammer) gave the following statistics to indicate the apparent success of Project Beacon. `In 1995, three people were shot dead (by police) a significant drop from nine the previous year. In 1996 there were none and last year, two. This year there have been two, but not enough is known about the circumstances of the latest shooting to paint the poor start to 1998 as the end of everything that Project beacon was able to achieve.'
A similar point has been made by Paul Gray who has cited Professor Rick Sarre, head of the School of Law and Legal Practice at the University of South Australia. Professor Sarre has claimed that since 1994 the Victorian Government has gone further than any other in Australia to find a better means of regulating police use of deadly force.
Assistant Commissioner Bill Severano has claimed there has been no change in Victoria Police's reluctance to use firearms.
Mr Severano has stated, `Any shooting is a worry to Victoria Police and to the community.'
Mr Severano has suggested that a shooting is always a possibility given the nature of police work, however, he has stated it is a development his officers seek to avoid and regret when it occurs.
`As you're aware, in any situation, there is the potential for these sorts of thongs to occur, but ... we don't like loss of life.'
Further implications
After the second fatal police shooting in April, Liberty Victoria and community lawyers have called for a review of police practices and training procedures. There has been no sympathy for such a move from Victoria Police which is urging people to await the results of investigations into the two shootings.
Each of the shootings will be investigated by the homicide squad, overseen by the police ethical standards department. To date the Victorian Government also does not appear to favour any sort of review or change of police procedures.
Further developments will probably not occur until the investigations of these two shootings are completed and the results made public. If the police officers are exonerated and this finding is accepted as valid, then the matter is likely to rest there. However, if the police are found to have acted inappropriately in either or both of these shootings then this is likely to renew calls for reform. Further, if the investigations are not regarded as having been sufficiently rigorous or impartial there may be calls for some sort of independent investigative process to be used when police shootings are being looked into.
The only other development which may encourage calls for change in police attitudes and procedures is if there are further police shootings this year.
Sources The Age
6/4/98 page 3 news item by Melissa Ryan, `Police shoot man dead in street'
6/4/98 page 3 news item by Sue Cant, `Pressure on capsicum spray use'
7/4/98 page 1 news item by Brett Foley and Patrick Donovan, `Victim's gun "not loaded"'
7/4/98 page 12 editorial, `Shooting mars an improved record'
8/4/98 page 1 news item by Brett Foley and Patrick Donovan, `I can't imagine why he would point a gun at them'
11/4/98 page 1 news item by Patrick Donovan, Fergus Shiel and Paul Conroy, `Police shot another dead'
12/4/98 page 1 news item by Karen Lyon, `Death prompts call for capsicum spray'
14/4/98 page 14 letter from David Ellis, `When does a police officer need a gun?'
14/4/98 page 14 letter from Paula Grogan, `Police learn many defensive tactics'
The Australian
7/4/98 page 7 news item by Katherine Towers and Rachel Hawes, `Police admit dead man's gun empty'
11/4/98 page 3 news item by Stephen Lunn, Michael Bachelard and Ebru Yaman, `Police kill man who hammered on ATM'
14/4/98 page 3 news item by Trudy Harris, `Culture of killing still grips police'
The Herald Sun
6/4/98 page 1 news item by Mark Butler, `Police kill man in street shoot-out/fatal force'
7/4/98 page 7 news item by Mark Buttler, Rick Wallace and Kamahl Cogdon, `Victim shot as he waved empty gun'
7/4/98 page 18 editorial, `Guns as the last resort'
8/4/98 page 18 comment by Paul Gray, `Some people spray the police, regardless'
11/4/98 page 3 news item by Peter Mickelburough and Kamahl Codgon, `Hammer bandit killed by police'
11/4/98 page 3 news item by Tanya Giles, `Force battles fatal shootings record'
12/4/98 page 9 news item by Wayne Jones, `Cry of pain on police shooting'
13/4/98 page 9 news item by Peter Mickelburough, `Spray delay blamed for shooting'
14/4/98 page 20 letters from Owen Quayle et al, `Police do a difficult job'
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