NT Coroner Recommends Repeal of Paperless Arrest Law After Aboriginal Death in Custody
Wednesday 19 August 2015 @ 11.38 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research
The Northern Territory Coroner, Greg Cavanagh, has called for the repeal of the controversial Northern Territory paperless arrest laws which he claims disproportionately affect Aboriginal people. The call came as a result of Cavanagh’s inquest into the death in custody of 59-year old Aboriginal man, Kumanjayi Langdon. He warned that if the laws aren’t repealed more Aboriginal people will die in custody.
The Law
The controversial laws were enacted by the Police Administration Amendment Act 2014 (NT) and are currently pending a challenge in the High Court. The law gives police new powers that are described as an ‘alternative post-arrest option’. It basically gives police officers the authority to detain a person for a period of up to four hours if the police suspect they have committed an offence for which they could be served with an infringement notice.
The objective of the law, as explained by the NT government, is to cut down on red tape, keeping police on the street rather than in the office filling out paperwork.
Coroner’s Inquiry
Coroner Greg Cavanagh was investigating the death of Kumanjayi Langon and, on 14 August 2015, recommended the laws be repealed. Mr. Langdon was arrested on suspicion of drinking alcohol in Darwin city centre in a prohibited area. He was arrested while a police operation to target antisocial behaviour and liquor offences was underway. Mr. Langdon died of heart failure in a Darwin police cell three hours after he was arrested.
Cavanagh found that he had died in his sleep:
“He died of natural causes and was always likely to die suddenly due to chronic and serious heart disease, but he was entitled to die in peace, in the comfort of family and friends … he was entitled to die as a free man.”
Cavanagh said there had been significant improvements in how police deal with Aboriginal detainees, and the care Mr Langdon received while detained was adequate. He nevertheless criticised the new police scheme which "imposes a burden that has caused the system to groan under the weight of new arrests" and police are unable to complete necessary risk assessments as a result.
Cavanagh further argues that the laws disproportionately targeted Indigenous Australians. He said the law "in my view perpetuates and entrenches Indigenous disadvantage".
Government Response
NT Attorney-General John Elferink is adamant that the laws will not be repealed despite the coroner’s recommendations. He argues that the laws have not changed the experience for offenders and only reduced paperwork for the police force. He said:
"When a person is brought into custody and they are held in a cell if they are charged with an offence then they are still subject to a determination of bail, whether bail should be granted, when that bail should be granted, or whether that bail should be refused,"
Call for inquiry into responses to alcohol abuse
The coroner also recommended that the NT government should commission an independent expert inquiry into responses to alcohol misuse. However, Mr Elferink is reluctant to hold such an inquiry. "We have to call on Aboriginal people themselves to fix their own lives," he said. Mr. Elferink must now launch the inquiry in the next three months or provide a report explaining why the Government will not act on the coroner’s recommendation.
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