NSW Police Search Targets

More than 238,000 people were searched by police in NSW last financial year, with documents revealing a quota system is in place for different regions.

Residents in Sydney's CBD and Liverpool in the southwest were subject to the most NSW Police searches, according to the data revealed under freedom of information laws.

The figures, obtained by NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge, show individual police area commands have targets for personal searches and move-on orders.
Personal searches include both standard "frisk" searches and strip-searches.
The data shows police NSW Police searched 238,923 people in 2018/19, after aiming for 241,632 across the state.

Mr Shoebridge said it was "dreadful" searches were being performed simply to meet quotas.
"Personal searches can be traumatising and are only meant to be undertaken when police are satisfied they are necessary," he said in a statement on Thursday.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is seeking formal advice on the matter.
When asked if a quota system was appropriate Ms Berejiklian said it was a matter for police commissioner Mick Fuller.
"But I can say this ... we've listened to the concerns of the community," the premier said.
"The police commissioner himself has said that he is looking over all of these matters and I will seek formal advice."

Targets were highest for Sydney central police command, which includes the eastern suburbs, Kings Cross, Sutherland Shire and Sydney's CBD.
It had a quota of 61,396 searches in 2017/18 and 68,752 in 2018/19.
Sydney's southwest - which includes Auburn, Campbelltown and Liverpool - had the second-highest search quota with a target of 57,804 in 2017/18 and 57,487 the following year.

The highest number of searches performed were in those two police commands with people in Sydney central subject to 66,124 searches in 2018/19 while 62,152 searches were performed in the southwest.
Within those areas, more than 9300 searches were performed in Sydney city alone and 9119 people in Liverpool in the southwest were searched in 2018/19.

"This isn't about cracking down on organised crime, it's about the micro abuse of police power being repeated hundreds of times a day in interactions with ordinary people," Mr Shoebridge said.
"We need the premier and police minister to step up and direct NSW Police to cease issuing quotas for the use of these discretionary police powers."

A NSW Police spokesman said every police area command is accountable for a range of performance measures including proactive policing.
"Any time a police officer executes their search powers, they must hold a reasonable suspicion as required by LEPRA (Law Enforcement Powers and Responsibilities Act)," the spokesman said in a statement to AAP on Thursday.
"A search cannot be conducted if this criteria is not met."
The spokesman added that proactive police strategies including searches have been proven to "significantly" drive down crime.

Dominica Sanda.

Australian Associated Press 

February 13, 202012:50pm

news.com.au

Priorities all wrong as NSW Coalition delivers thousands more police but hundreds fewer fire paid fighters

Analysis by the Greens NSW shows in the nine years since the Coalition was elected in NSW the number of paid professional firefighters has been cut by over 110. At the same time the number of NSW police has already increased by over 1,150 with another 1,500 police budgeted to be recruited within four years.

This skewing of scarce emergency resources away from fire safety and firefighting towards more and more police has left NSW dangerously exposed in the current fire crisis.

Full details of the analysis based on published state budgets and annual reports for the various emergency services agencies are found below.

Greens MP David Shoebridge said:

“There is something dreadfully wrong with the Coalition’s priorities that has seen it pump billions of dollars into more police while stripping back the number of paid firefighters.

“Since 2011 when the Coalition government was first elected, NSW has 108 fewer retained firefighters and three less full time firefighters, meanwhile police numbers have skyrocketed to record highs.

“Retained firefighters are fully trained Fire and Rescue personnel who work on an “on-call” basis. They are paid a base weekly retainer and additional hourly payments<https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/gallery/files/pdf/retained/Retained_Candidate_Information.pdf> whenever they work.

“When there are record low crime rates and record levels of risk from climate change and fire it is extraordinary that emergency services funding has been so misdirected.

“At a time when we need hundreds and hundreds more firefighters and probably fewer police, we have got the exact opposite, with the government now budgeting for a further 1,500 police.

“While the RFS has seen a funding increase, none of that has been for paid front-line fire-fighting staff and the state’s over-reliance on volunteer firefighting is already seeing exhaustion take its toll on the volunteer base.

“This is a case of politics failing the ultimate test of keeping the public safe.

“We urgently need to review these budget allocations going forward and fund more paid fire fighters.

“Parliament needs to respond to the current crisis and that starts with diverting to NSW Fire and Rescue all of the $583 million extra that has been set aside for more police over the next four years,” Mr Shoebridge said.

Detailed budget analysis below:

In 2010/2011 the budget for NSW Fire and Rescue was $636 million 2011 dollars.<https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2017-06/2011-2012%20Budget%20Papers%20BP3%20Budget%20Estimates.pdf> Adjusted for inflation that is $750 million in 2019 dollars. In 2011 there were 3,516 full time fire officers and 3,382 retained fire fighters<https://www.fire.nsw.gov.au/gallery/files/pdf/annual_reports/annual_report_2010_11.pdf>.

For the 2019/2020 FY the NSW Fire and Rescue budget is $774 million and as at 30 June 2019<https://www.budget.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/budget-2019-06/6._Stronger_Communities_cluster-BP3-Budget_201920.pdf> there were 3,513 full time fire officers and 3,274 retained fire fighters<https://media.opengov.nsw.gov.au/pairtree_root/e6/bf/1b/6a/56/26/45/bd/b9/c5/5c/26/5a/01/ae/1a/obj/D19_56993_FRNSW_Annual_Report_2018_19_DIGITAL_VERSION.pdf>. This is a loss of 3 full time and 108 retained firefighters over 8 years.

In 2010/11 the budget for the NSW Police was in $2,849 million in 2011 dollars<https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2017-06/2011-2012%20Budget%20Papers%20BP3%20Budget%20Estimates.pdf>. Adjusted for inflation that is $3,360 million in 2019 dollars. In 2011 there were 15,943 NSW police<https://www.opengov.nsw.gov.au/download/14688>.

For the 2019/2020 FY the NSW Police budget is $3,807 million<https://www.budget.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/budget-2019-06/6._Stronger_Communities_cluster-BP3-Budget_201920.pdf> and as at 30 June 2019 there were 17,111 NSW police<https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/658513/NSWPF_2018-19_Annual_Report.pdf>. This is an increase of 1,168 police in just 8 years. This number will increase to well over 18,000 by 2023.

In 2010/11 the budget for the NSW RFS was in $239 million in 2011 dollars<https://www.treasury.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2017-06/2011-2012%20Budget%20Papers%20BP3%20Budget%20Estimates.pdf>. Adjusted for inflation that is $282 million in 2019 dollars. In 2011 the RFS had 920 employees and 70,448 volunteers on the books.

For the 2019/2020 FY the NSW RFS budget is $524 million<https://www.budget.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/budget-2019-06/6._Stronger_Communities_cluster-BP3-Budget_201920.pdf> and as at 30 June 2019<https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/129892/NSW-RFS-Annual-Report-2018-19-web.pdf> there were 936 full time employees and 71,234 volunteers. This is an increase of just 16 full time employees over 8 years. The number of volunteers on the books is a highly contested figure with the number of active volunteers being a fraction of the total number disclosed.

Criminal record check scheme a risk

Almost 100 private companies and public agencies have been given privileged access to NSW Police criminal records on a cash-for-access scheme. The Greens have secured the release of the list of organizations in NSW authorized by the NSW Police to undertake criminal record checks without needing to notify public agencies.

The list includes a number of organisations where it is very difficult to see a justification for them having access to such sensitive information including small construction companies, the Crown Casino, and British American Tobacco.