Police value community perspectives

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PREETI JABBAL talks to Trevor Carter, head of the PIWF on its role and the existing policing and law enforcing measures in Victoria still be looking after the safety of Indian students .We are gathering a whole range of people together who are responsible for safety of international students. Collectively we can work on getting the message of safety and awareness across to everyone, we can help new students to integrate within the Australian society and provide advice or support to victims of crime. claims to have thousands of members and is growing by the minute with anti-Indian sentiments?

‘Passenger jailed for racist taxi attack’. Indian community, please put your hands together for this unfamiliar bit of news that hit the headlines on January 15, both in The Age and Herald Sun online. Justice did indeed move swiftly in Ballarat when a 48-year-old man was jailed hours after he racially abused and threatened to kill an Indian taxi driver.

Paul John Brogden couldn’t have picked a worse time to unleash his drug and alcohol infused ranting. The Australian Government is trying frantically to diffuse hostility, law enforcers are under enormous pressure to prove that they are ‘doing something’ and the media is having a mud-slinging ball. Brogden now has three months to regret his timing.

This is effectively the first zero tolerance message we have seen since the media went ballistic on the spate of violent attacks on Indian students in Australia. It is not to say that nothing was done before we never heard of it certainly not in any of the ‘power’ press in Australia. Pardon me in case I missed a paragraph that was tucked away in some obscure page.

PJ: In your meeting held last year you provided us with data and statistics that indicated that the incidents of violence against Indians in the Western region had actually reduced, not increased. Is this still the case?

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TC: This is the first time I have heard of such a thing in existence. I would like to get more details and investigate this further.

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It took political intervention, public protests, travel warning, plummeting enrolments, economic loss, media hysteria and appalling statistics collectively to reach here. Australia has finally realised that it is time not to be defensive, but to launch an offensive against perpetrators of these criminal acts of violence against people of Indian appearance.

One hopes that this does not end up as a solitary case of redress and that the law enforcers are consistent in meting out justice to the victims of crime, while ensuring the momentum in terms of speedy investigations, arrests and summary trials.

While a premature conclusion of racism in any case is inappropriate, the apparent disproportionate number of attacks on Indians relative to other overseas students does suggest racism is a factor. There is a lot of angst in the community at the moment and innumerable questions are being raised about the effectiveness of policing measures and law enforcement especially in the Western suburbs. Here is what Trevor Carter, Commander, Footscray Police Complex and head of the Police Indian Western Reference (PIWR) group had to say.

TC: Yes, this is correct. The geographical area of Western Suburbs has experienced a downward trend in the incidents of violence against people of Indian appearance as a result of the measures we have put in place. You have to understand that there is not one solution to this problem - many aspects need to be looked at. We are working with the State and Federal Government on various operations like safe stations project, weapons search and undercover operations. We are being proactive by sending police out in plainclothes to educate the community about safety. We are not just confined to the Western region as we are targeting problem spots around Melbourne.

PJ: Do you have statistics on the number of incidents of violence against Indian students in Melbourne or at least in your Western area?

TC: I cannot give you the numbers because they have to be released corporately. The concern with releasing such figures is how they will be interpreted. Statistics needs to be looked at in context, unfortunately that is not always the case.

PJ: Do you know how many more police were recruited after the last spate of attacks on Indian students?

PJ: People have complained about instances where they tried to report an incident at the Police Station but were told to come back later, because there weren’t enough police to attend or assist them.

TC: That is not acceptable at all. It is the clear responsibility of the Police that if someone contacts them to report an incident, they should provide assistance. I suggest if anyone comes across a case where they are not being assisted, they should ask to speak to someone in authority at the stations.

PJ: In the Nitin Garg case, the Jaspreet Singh case and the Lynbrook Gurudwara incident, the Police and the Government were quick to dismiss the possibility of racism being involved. This has created an impression of a nation in denial. Have you been given a directive to make such statements?

TC: No there is no such directive to the Police. My interpretation of this is that the statements are not being put in context. It depends on how the question is put by journalists or reporting media and how it is perceived by the people. If they ask about racism being involved in an incident but there is no evidence to suggest that it is a racially motivated attack, at that point of time, that is what they will be told. We can only confirm otherwise once the investigation is complete and evidence of racial motivation is found.

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The reference group was created to address the violence against Indian students, in consultation with representatives from the community, media, academics, education providers and students. The group held several meetings to develop strategies for tackling crime on the streets. It launched a student helpline with the support of Federation of Indian Associations of Australia (FIAV) and dealt primarily with sending out a message of safety and awareness to international students. After the initial meetings last year, a long silence followed.

Preeti Jabbal: What is happening with the Police Indian-Western Reference Group? Is it still operating?

Trevor Carter: It is still operating; however we are in the process of changing the composition and direction of the group. Our focus from now on will be on ‘International students’ rather than only Indian students. There was recognition within the group that some of the issues were common to all International students, so we are developing a broader representation from the community. A large focus of our work will

TC: The Government this year is putting out 150 extra police. These will go to all metropolitan areas of Melbourne. We have had injections of police in our region - for example, we had 20 more police in the Wyndham area and another injection in the Werribee area. Our operation ‘safe stations’ has been underway since June last year and we have transit police who ride on trains and go to railway stations that are identified as trouble spots

PJ: What happens once you do find that the attacks were racially motivated? There have been several cases in the past few months where Indians were victims of race crime; has anyone been convicted yet?

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PJ: With the weapon search operation launched recently you are required to give prior notice about where it will be conducted. Does that reduce its effectiveness?

TC: Providing prior notice is a legal requirement. When we conducted the last search it was highly publicised in the media, but despite that we found weapons on several people in that area. The weapons were confiscated and the offenders were charged accordingly. The operation will prove to be a deterrent, as well as a means to detect potential problem areas.

PJ: Does that indicate that violence has increased in Victoria?

TC: Yes, there is an increase in weapons of crime and incidents of violence in Melbourne. It is a disturbing trend and it is a concern for us, which is why we have operations targeted at hot spots especially in the CBD area of Melbourne. We are working very hard to reduce crime.

PJ: Are you aware of the Facebook chain that

TC: Some cases are still under trial or yet to go to the courts; however we arrested 4 young students within ten days of an incident in our region. We have made more arrests and charged many people. You can obtain the figures of specific cases by contacting Police media. I can assure you we are putting in every effort to apprehend the culprits.

PJ: What do you suggest we can do as a community to support the Victorian Police?

TC: There are a couple of things that would help us. We need to know what is happening within the community from a criminal perspective, to help combat crime. The Western Indian Reference task force saw lots of views from lots of people and sometimes we could not reach a consensus or a definitive outcome; however we value working and talking to the community and getting a wide range of perspectives. Secondly, each of us is responsible for our own safety and we need to promote that awareness. The Indian community can help us to create that awareness. We are only as effective as the community will allow us to be.