Family of Aboriginal boy say he was racially profiled by ACT Police

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Canberra's first nations community has accused ACT police of racial profiling after an Aboriginal teenager was detained at gunpoint in a case of mistaken identity. The chief police officer has apologised and says they're investigating but is standing by the officers' actions and denies the force has a problem with systemic racism.

Transcript

00:00A traumatised First Nations family calling out police.

00:06A child who had never committed a crime was treated like a criminal.

00:10He was treated like a threat and he was treated as less than human.

00:15Police searching for a violent carjacker on the run in Woden last week

00:19stopped a bus and pointed their guns at an innocent Aboriginal teenager.

00:24He is scared to leave the house alone.

00:26He refuses to catch a bus and he lives in fear of police

00:32and that fear was created by your officers.

00:35Police have apologised for what they say was a case of mistaken identity.

00:39During the response, information was received by police

00:43that a young person matching the physical and clothing description

00:47of the alleged offender was on a bus.

00:50What happened to our nephew was not a mistake.

00:53He was not a misunderstanding.

00:55It was a gross violation of a child's human rights.

01:01Advocates say it's just the latest case of systemic racism by ACT police.

01:07They've never got any resources but when it comes to do with anything with our mob,

01:11they've got plenty of resources to hunt them, chase them down, lock them up.

01:16I don't believe that we have institutional racism.

01:19We obviously have more to do to improve the way we police here in the ACT,

01:24that engagement with the First Nations community

01:26and making sure we're building trust with the First Nations community.

01:28An investigation will review the officers' body-worn camera footage and CCTV from the bus,

01:34but the officers involved won't be stood down while that investigation is underway.

01:40The chief police officer argues detaining the boy at gunpoint was an appropriate use of force.

01:46But the investigation will focus on why the boy was still searched,

01:51even after police realised they had the wrong person.

01:55He keeps asking me if he'd done anything wrong or if there's anything he could have did,

02:01but I keep trying to reassure him that it wasn't his fault.

02:04He wasn't in the wrong, he did nothing wrong.

02:07Would they pull to have done what they did to the only white kid on that bus?

02:11A plea for honesty and action.

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