Racial profiling is a concern for policing across the country. Racial profiling means using race or ethnicity as a reason for suspecting someone of having committed an offence. In August 2015, Victoria Police ‘banned’ racial profiling. This ban was part of a package of reforms generated as part of a 2013 settlement in a racial profiling court case brought by a group of mainly African young people called ‘Haile-Michael v Konstantinidis’’. Despite the ban, advocates in Victoria continued to assess if Victoria Police continued to use racial profiling. On 8 October 2024, the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project, published four years of Victoria Police search data to see whether there was evidence that racial profiling continues. The Project found evidence that Victoria Police is still engaging in racial profiling.

‍

How did it work?

The Project got Victoria Police search data that it had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023. They examined this data to see whether a person's racial appearance impacted on the ‘rate’ or ‘reasonableness’ of police searches.

‍

The Project analysed the data for racial profiling using two methodologies: a ‘hit rate’ analysis and a ‘census benchmarking’ analysis.  

‍

A ‘hit rate’ analysis means looking for the number of times contraband was found during a series of searches. This analysis makes an assumption that when the police conduct a search on ‘reasonable’ grounds they are more likely to find a contraband item. The Project states that while this assumption cannot be made in individual cases, ‘hit rate’ is a reasonable proxy for search reasonableness over a large number of cases.  Consequently, a lower 'find' or 'hit' rate indicates that overall, police are conducting less reasonable searches.

‍

The other method is ‘census benchmarking’ analysis. A census benchmarking analysis compares the proportion of searches for each group in the population and compares this with their proportion in the overall population.

What was the result?

From a ‘hit rate’ analysis, the Project found that police searches of people perceived to be African, Middle Eastern, Indian and Asian have lower hit rates than searches of people perceived to be Caucasian.

‍

Using the ‘census benchmarking’ method, the Project found that in 2023, police searched First Nations people at 11 times the rate of Caucasians.  Furthermore, police searched people they perceived to be African at 8 times the rate of Caucasians, people they perceived to be Middle Eastern at 5 times the rate of Caucasians and people they perceived to be Pacific Islanders at 4 times the rate of Caucasians.  

‍

The Project states that its findings are evidence that Victoria Police continues to engage in racial profiling despite its 2015 ban. Furthermore, it claims that
the disproportionate searching of First Nations, African, Middle Eastern and Pacific Islander communities is likely to directly impact an increased engagement of these communities with the criminal legal system.

‍

The Project’s findings suggest that racial profiling in Australia is likely to be at least as problematic as other multicultural societies where data exists. The Project argues that consequently, addressing racial profiling deserves far greater institutional attention in Australia than it currently receives.  

‍

If you have been subject to racial profiling in Victoria, please write to:

‍

Police Accountability Project

2/508 Queensberry Street

North Melbourne VIC 3051

‍

If you have been subject to racial profiling in other parts of Australia please write to:

‍

Racial Justice Centre

Level 21/133 Castlereagh Street

Sydney NSW 2000

‍

The project’s data can be viewed at racialprofilingresearch.org