The Guardian 14 November, 2007
Police pepper spraying of girl
ruled "not unreasonable"
Kirstie Parker
Civil libertarians and Aboriginal legal experts say they’re disappointed but not surprised by the West Australian Corruption and Crime Commission (CCC) finding that police did not act unreasonably when they pepper sprayed a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl in a Perth school yard in June last year.
In January, the WA Education Department decided it was not in the public interest for it to investigate the incident and last Wednesday the CCC released a statement advising the outcome of its review into the incident.
CCC Director of Operations Nick Anticich said, "it would be easy for the Commission to criticise police but this was a sad and exceptional case that was difficult for all involved".
He said the girl was in a considerable rage, out of control and threatening students, teachers and staff with a pair of long, sharp scissors in one hand and a piece of brick in the other.
He said that, according to police and witnesses, attempts to resolve the situation using calm verbal communication and negotiation failed.
"There was an extremely high risk the girl could have been seriously injured by the scissors if police had tackled her or used an alternative means of force," Mr Anticich said.
"Use of a half dose of pepper spray was the most benign way for police to manage the situation and guarantee the safety of all involved.
"While not identifying any misconduct on the part of police officers, the Commission is by no means advocating or supporting the use of pepper spray as an acceptable means for controlling the actions of children.
"It is not envisaged that this means of control will or should ever become a standard or routine method of restraint police use on children, but in this case the circumstances were exceptional."
CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA (ALSWA) Dennis Eggington said he wasn’t surprised at the review’s outcome considering that the CCC had chosen to ask the head of the police rail unit whose members were involved in the incident.
"Effectively, the unit investigated itself," Mr Eggington told The Koori Mail.
"Should the CCC have decided under its powers to carry out an independent review, we’re of the view that the review may have had a different finding."
Mr Eggington said officers could have enlisted the help of Aboriginal Elders, school liaison officers or an Education Department youth worker to diffuse the situation, and there were some questions about whether the scissors and brick portion being held by the girl were actually as large as suggested to the CCC.
He said the girl was complying with a second request to put the scissors and brick portion down when officers pepper sprayed her.
"They jumped the gun and over-reacted (with) the use of pepper spray and handcuffs on a ten-year-old girl in a school ground, traumatising her," Mr Eggington said.
He said ALSWA was aware of another instance when the police rail unit had refused to use pepper spray on a suspected adult offender because a ten-year-old child was in the vicinity.
Civil Liberties Australia (CLA) suggested that perhaps the CCC Commissioner or senior staff should be pepper sprayed to see how inappropriate and painful the use of such a chemical force on young children was.
"The CCC had the clear opportunity, and we say the responsibility, to say to the WA Police that it was not, and is not, acceptable to use pepper spray on young children," CLA CEO Bill Rowlings told The Koori Mail.
"Police should not be permitted to use such force as capsicum spray and stun guns on children under at least teen age. We call on the WA Police Commissioner to rewrite the police protocols to that effect.
"The CCC seems to have naïvely accepted post-event excuses and blithe half-truths in this case."
Mr Eggington said ALSWA encouraged Aboriginal people who have been treated harshly by the police and other authorities to look at every avenue of legal redress.
Referring to the pepper spray incident, he said: "If we got instructions to pursue the matter, we would."
Acknowledgements: The Koori Mail