Record budget bonuses for police in New South Wales and Victoria

New South Wales Police has been granted a $220 million bonus in the upcoming Berejiklian state budget, but commissioner Mick Fuller is still not satisfied.

Fuller continues to lobby the government for an additional 2,500 officers. According to the NSW Police Association, without the new officers, a “wave of violence” threatens Sydney’s streets. (Official statistics show a 17-year downward trend in almost all categories of violent crime. But don’t let the facts get in the way of a cash grab.)

The Victorian Labor government is throwing around even more cash. Premier Daniel Andrews has pledged “the biggest ever investment in Victoria Police”, which will result in 3,135 new police officers roaming the state by 2023.

This follows recent high-profile cases of police brutality, including the footage released in April of a disabled man dragged from his home and assaulted on his front lawn by a group of cops.

NSW has also suffered its share of police violence in 2018. At least three Aboriginal men have been killed while in police custody in the first five months of this year. Instead of justice being granted to the loved ones of the deceased, extra cash is doled out for a job well done.

And these are not the only recent crimes committed by NSW police. The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission – tasked with investigating misconduct and maladministration in NSW Police and the NSW Crime Commission – released a damning report in March.

It found that the “suspect target management plan”, previously reported on in Red Flag, is disproportionately used to target and stalk young Aboriginal people who have never committed a crime.

The report also lamented the inability of the commission to investigate many reported acts of misconduct, following severe budget cuts by the state government. There has been no word of a budget increase for the commission for 2018-19.