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2010/3: Should Victoria Police have been granted additional powers to stop and search people and to move them on?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: An ABC 7.30 Report segment on the recently-introduced stop-and-search powers for Victorian police.
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What they said...
'It will clearly involve significant intrusions on ordinary civil liberties and human rights, such as the right to walk the streets and mind your own business'
Michael Pearce, SC, president of Liberty Victoria
'People have a right to privacy, but they also have a right not to be stabbed ... if random searches can bring about the prevention of stabbing, then it is totally correct for police to be able to do this'
Bob Cameron, Victorian Police Minister
The issue at a glance
On December 16, 2009, the Victorian Parliament passed the Summary Offences and Control of Weapons Acts Amendment Bill 2009.
The amended legislation gives increased powers to the police to combat 'anti-social behaviour and violence'.
Among the new powers given police are the power to stop and search anybody, without a search warrant, in a designated 'weapons search area'. The new laws also give police the power to randomly search children and conduct strip searches.
The new laws have been criticised by human rights, political, legal and welfare organisations as unnecessary and as potentially targeting vulnerable groups in society, such as the homeless, the mentally ill and young and Indigenous people.
The Victorian Government and police spokespersons have argued that the laws are a necessary response to protect Victorians from a growing 'knife culture' in the state and from the threat of assault in the street.
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