One thing the police have been doing for years by utilising the offensive
language laws is the 'trifecta', well known to Aboriginal people. It works
like this.
A patrol van may hear an alert of, say, a break and enter in the district.
while cruising along they stop and pull up an Aboriginal person. They will
ask about the offence stating they have reason to believe, etc......
That person will usually tell the copper to 'fuck off', or something
similar.
The officer will then try to apprehend the person and will lay hands on him
for the purpose of arresting the 'offender'. The 'offender' will try to get
away, knowing what very well may happen to him if he is arrested. Ergo he
is 'resisting arrest'.
Now when the court case comes up for judgement there will be no mention of
the break and enter they originally stopped him for. However, the charge
will be 'offensive language and resist arrest'. The person will be fined
and/or gaoled for the offence.
To my knowledge there has never been a magistrate willing to stand up and
ask what they were doing with the man in the first place. There has never
been a magistrate who has called this harassment. There has never been a
magistrate who has questioned the police tactics. So a man/woman,
ostensibly innocent, will be sent to gaol.
This is just one of the ways police keep indigenous incarceration rates up.
Tricky buggers aren't they?
Don
Don Clark
President
Indigenous Social Justice Association
PO Box K555
There can be no real reconciliation without social justice
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
HAYMARKET NSW 1240
----- Original Message -----
From: Trudy Bray <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: news-clip <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, 1 September 1999 11:05
Subject: SMH - F-word has lost its power to offend, magistrate rules
> F-word has lost its power to offend, magistrate rules
>
> Date: 01/09/99
>
> By DEBRA JOPSON
>
> A NSW magistrate has ruled that the word "f---" is not offensive language
and has suggested it is time for a policy change.
>
> "The word f--- is extremely commonplace now and has lost much of its
punch," said Mr David Heilpern, in Dubbo Local Court, as he
> dismissed an offensive language charge against an 18-year-old Aboriginal
man.
>
> It is the first time a magistrate has so openly criticised the legal
standing of the "F" word since Ms Pat O'Shane dismissed charges, nine
> years ago against a man who called police "f---ing poofters".
>
> She said using "collateral damage" to describe human war casualties was
worse.
>
> In the Dubbo case, Mr Shannon Thomas Dunn allegedly told a police officer
to "f--- off" when the policeman held on to the handlebars
> of a bike he was riding.
>
> However, community standards had changed and this word was used in school
playgrounds every day, Mr Heilpern said in his judgment.
> It was common on television and he had heard it twice recently in a
PG-rated movie.
>
> "If your children like Triple J and listen to it in the morning, one
cannot help be assailed by the word 'f---' with regularity between
> mouthfuls of toast."
>
> Microphones regularly picked up football heroes using it. They might be
sin-binned, but were not charged.
>
> "We live in an era where Federal ministers use the word over the telephone
to constituents and are not charged."
>
> Even on the conservative Internet search engine Infoseek more than 2.5
million Web sites indexed the word. On country-town streets, it
> could be heard as a term of affection.
>
> Although it "may be difficult to comprehend from the leafy suburbs of
Sydney", many witnesses in his courts seemed unable to speak a
> sentence without "f---" in it.
>
> Mr Heilpern said that each day there were about 200 cases involving
offensive language in NSW local courts. Aborigines accounted for
> 15 times more of these offences than others, which affected their
employment prospects.
>
> His comments came as the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics revealed that in
the 12 months to June there had been more than a 37 per
> cent increase over the previous year in offensive-language offences
recorded by police.
>
> The head of the bureau, Dr Don Weatherburn, said he was concerned about
the cost of court proceedings for offensive language. Giving
> people a criminal record for a minor offence was no way to help them out
of crime.
>
> The director of Sydney University's Institute of Criminology, Mr Chris
Cuneen, said some police were ignoring instructions to use
> summons, rather than arrest, for offensive-language charges. Mr Heilpern
noted that the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in
> Custody report said: "It is surely time that police learnt to ignore mere
abuse, let alone simple 'bad language'."
>
> This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or
mirroring is prohibited.
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Uproar to indifference: tracking the F-word
>
> Date: 01/09/99
>
> 1975 Graham Kennedy appeared to mouth it on TV, causing uproar.
>
> 1988 A magistrate, citing community standards, found the word not
offensive in the case of a man who used it in a street brawl. Justice
> Yeldham in the Supreme Court upheld his decision. 1991 Magistrate Pat
O'Shane dismissed a charge against a man who called police
> "f---ing poofters". She said using "collateral damage" to describe human
casualties in the Gulf War was more offensive. Reversing the
> decision, Justice Studdert said community standards had not slipped that
far.
>
> 1993 Justice McInerney found that it was offensive that an Aboriginal man
called out "F--- off, you white c---s ..." to a crowd. Justice
> Dunford subsequently agreed.
>
> 1995 Justice Herron in the Police Tribunal found a sergeant's use of
"f---" in a police office foyer was "probably not offensive". At
> appeal, Justice Meagher agreed.
>
> 1999 Comedian Rob Sitch said to a woman on a late-night TV talk show, "Who
the f--- are you?" Channel 10 reported little viewer
> reaction.
>
> NSW Parents and Citizens Federation president Ms Bev Baker said the word
"f---" was acceptable in her house, but "wog" was not. The
> NSW Director-General of Education, Dr Ken Boston, considered f---
unacceptable
>
> This material is subject to copyright and any unauthorised use, copying or
mirroring is prohibited.
>
> [
>
>
> *************************************************************************
> This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without
> permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment,
> scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal
> copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of
> the copyright owner, except for "fair use."
>
>
>
>
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