The ACT should ban the use of spit hoods, which carry a high risk of suffocation and have been linked to known deaths in custody, a group campaigning to end the high rate of incarceration of First Nations people has said.
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The fresh call for a ban on the devices follows ACT Policing revealing a 16-year-old girl had recently been restrained with a spit hood in the territory.
Change The Record's executive officer, Sophie Trevitt, said it was hard to argue spit hoods should remain in use in the ACT when NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia did not use the devices. They are banned by law in South Australia.
"If there is evidence - which there is - that spit hoods are dangerous devices and when they are coupled with other policing tactics, like other forms of restraint ... and the combination of those activities has resulted in known deaths in custody, I think there is ample justification to ban the use of the device - it's dangerous," Ms Trevitt said.
Ms Trevitt said spit hoods made it harder for police to assess whether a person was breathing and there was other suitable personal protective equipment for officers to wear.
"The purpose of a spit hood is to catch any fluids that come from the person who's in it. That could be vomit, spit - anything in the person's mouth they spit. By virtue of that, we know that spit hood, when it catches those fluids, becomes less breathable, increases the risk of suffocation and asphyxiation," she said.
"You can easily imagine what happens when a device like that becomes wet when things caught in it."
Change The Record, a First Nations-led campaign, wrote to ACT Police Minister Mick Gentleman, Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury and Justice Health Minister Emma Davidson in May to call for a ban.
The group said it had not received a formal response to their letter.
An ACT budget estimates hearing was on Monday told police had recently restrained a 16-year-old girl in the territory with a spit hood, but the devices were used infrequently.
ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan said spit hoods were the safest option to protect both people being detained and police officers.
"They are considered safe when used in accordance with the instruction. Once a person's placed in a holding cell, the spit hood is removed. They are not generally carried by front-line operational police officers. It's a rare event that it's used," Deputy Commissioner Gaughan said.
Greens member Andrew Braddock said in a statement he was deeply concerned ACT Policing was unable to report on the use of spit hoods.
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Deputy Commissioner Gaughan told the hearing use of spit hoods was classified under a broader definition of restraining devices, so there was not specific information available on their use. He said no one aged under 16 had been restrained with a spit hood.
Mr Braddock said spit hoods were not used in other parts of Australia because they were traumatic and potentially lethal.
"[Spit hoods] have been implicated in the deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in custody across Australia," Mr Braddock said.
"I encourage the ACT government and ACT Policing to explore what other measures can be used in the ACT."
An ACT government spokesman said the government supported the protection of the health and safety of ACT police and the public.
"ACT Policing members are trained to de-escalate situations and resort to use of force in exceptional circumstances. These are operational decisions for officers and are governed by directions issued by the AFP Commissioner, such as order 3 on operational safety," the spokesman said.
"All actions by ACT Policing are subject to scrutiny, including through professional standards, the ombudsman and Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity."
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Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
