PSOs 'asking too many questions'

Concerns have been raised about Protective Service Officers collecting personal information from innocent bystanders, partly to show their superiors they have been working and, sometimes, to conduct on-the-spot criminal record checks.

PSOs recorded the name and date of birth of more than 29,000 people last year, including those not suspected of any wrongdoing. The information may be used, at PSOs' discretion, to conduct criminal record checks by radio.

When questioned by The Saturday Age one PSO said another reason they wrote down people's details was to prove they had been working.

The acting Victorian Privacy Commissioner, David Watts, was unaware of the practice and said he was ''seeking comment and clarification from Victoria Police''.

Jane Dixon, SC, president of Liberty Victoria, said gathering law-abiding citizens' personal information for no reason showed police wanted a database of everyone in Victoria and was ''bringing us closer to a police state''.

Victoria Police defended the practice as standard procedure used by both PSOs and police to gain information about an area.

After beginning work in February 2012, PSOs were involved in the arrest of 1397 people up to the end of 2012. More than 60 of those arrested were breaching bail conditions and 500 had outstanding warrants.

A police spokeswoman confirmed one role of PSOs was to ''gather intelligence. PSOs can have between five and 50 contacts with commuters per shift (including those not behaving suspiciously) in the form of a greeting or a formal interaction where they obtain the person's name and date of birth.''

Under the Crimes Act people can refuse to give their name, address and date of birth, unless police have reasonable grounds for believing they have committed or are about to commit an offence, or could aid an investigation.

The spokeswoman said when someone was not under suspicion ''a member of the public has the right to ask whether they are required to provide their details, which they would be advised that there is no obligation''. But police are not required to warn someone that they don't have to answer.

Meghan Fitzgerald, legal projects officer at Fitzroy Legal Service, said: ''Many people don't know to say no. Once they've got your details they can look up your LEAP status. All of your information, all your contacts with police are recorded in that. That includes more than criminal record information, it includes allegations, investigations.''

On Tuesday morning Baljit Thind, 21, was outside the paid ticketing area on the ground level of Southern Cross Station.

He was exploring the city, having arrived three weeks earlier from India to study in a language school, when he was approached by two PSOs.

According to Mr Thind, one PSO said: ''Just show me your ID.''

''I said, 'why'. He said, 'Just show me, we need your date of birth, name and address','' Mr Thind said.

''Because I was scared I gave him my Indian licence, and then he wrote my name and my date of birth in his diary. He told me, 'Where are you living in Australia?' and I told him my address.''

At no stage did the PSO tell Mr Thind that he was not obliged to reveal the information. ''I asked the police officer many times, 'Why do you need my ID?' because I didn't do anything wrong. He said to me, 'We just need it'.''

Police did not disclose with whom the details were shared, but confirmed they were ''held by Victoria Police as law enforcement data''.

The spokeswoman said the data was ''generally not'' cross-checked with CCTV footage ''unless the circumstances require an investigation''.

theage.com.au 27 Apr 2013

One does not legally have to provide information to ANY PSO unless it is for the purpose of an arrest, and not a fine.

The general populous are being fed drivel, in order to keep them subservient and submissive to civil rule.

 

The police are factually a corporation and function as such, which is a well known fact within certain legal circles, but kept under wraps.

 

This information will not be published in the corporate media,as the corporate media is a government lap dog.

There are many cases of government fraud that are taboo to report.

The official jobless rate is just one example.

 

Australia, the new Alcatraz is truly a Police State.