from Crikey .....

WA cops get frisky

The Western Warrior writes:

Ah WA, you little police state, you.

New legislation, set to be introduced into state Parliament in next month, means police can now stop and search people and vehicles in designated areas without having to prove reasonable suspicion that a crime has taken place. Yes, that's right, WA Premier Colin Barnett has proposed laws with the express purpose of stopping, searching and interrogating folk for no reason at all.

Of course, this is the state that still outlaws meetings of five or more people in a public place without a permit. Helps keep those damn Commie pinko left-wing hippie subversive social activist types in line, you see.

Defending the laws on radio, Barnett said that the new laws would give police greater powers to stop and search people in particular areas where crime and anti-social behaviour is perceived as a problem ... or in reality, where music-lovers are taking drugs at festivals.

Huffed the Premier, "We will target known problem areas such as Northbridge after midnight, so families going out for a meal in Northbridge will not be a focus for the police." Quite apart from pondering what sort of families are taking little Dick and Dora out for dinner after midnight, one also wonders what to make of the suggestion that without these laws, mum, dad and the 2.3 kids currently are a focus for the police.

Barnett continued, saying that "The people we are targeting are those who are carrying weapons or drugs and intending to create trouble and going to places like Northbridge and Scarborough or Mullalloo beaches where there have been problems in the past."

Your humble correspondent is no lawyer, not even a bush one, but the main problem with all this is so obvious as to make its observation tedious. Clearly the police must have some reason to think you're carrying drugs, or they wouldn't search you. So exactly how does that require a law explicitly removing the need for police to have a reason for a stop 'n' search?

Barnett, his police minister Rob Johnson and Attorney-General Christian Porter have been arguing that under the current laws, time and resources are spent in court debating whether police could justify the grounds for their suspicion instead of whether the offenders were actually in possession of illegal objects. Apparently police shouldn't have to bother with justifying their actions to a court of law. An interesting view from those charged with the protection of democratic principles and protections ... explain to us again how a Bill of Rights is worse than an elected Parliament when it comes to civil liberties?

God help us, these are the men responsible for the administration of justice in WA.

Shadow Attorney General John Quigley has labelled the laws "fascist", although coming from a pre-Vatican II Catholic that may not actually be an insult. Predictably, the Police Association has backed the laws -- when on earth will the police stop admitting they are too incompetent to administer any law with a semblance of accountability involved? -- and the civil liberties protesters have been labelled with the usual epithets.

So come, visit Western Australia. Get felt up by the cops, left without legal redress and probably end up in custody. It's a tourist marketers dream, really.