Concerns over racist use of social media

all credits: World News Australia
1st March 2011

The Deaths in Custody Watch Committee has called for a complete overhaul of the police recruitment process, after an officer posted offensive photographs on his Facebook page. The police officer, who posted photographs of drunken Indigenous inmates with offensive captions, has now stepped down.

The Aboriginal Legal Service’s Dennis Eggington says social media is being used as a vehicle to advertise and promote derogatory opinions of other cultures. “What we’re seeing is a rise in racial vilification not only in Facebook but on YouTube and Twitter,” he told SBS.

The WA Shadow Minister for Police, Margaret Quirk, says she was horrified to hear the allegations, but doesn’t believe the incident was a one-off.

“I do think there is systemic racism in the justice system of Western Australia and that then leads to a disproportionate representation of Indigenous people within the justice system, and that tends to colour some officer’s impression of aboriginal community,” she said.

Mr Eggington believes racism is more widespread than many Australians realise and that the justice system does little to discourage it.

“It just seems there are standards in this country, when other cultures can be vilified and the people who do that are charged but when it comes to racially vilifying Aboriginal people they’re let off.

“We’re not going to stand for it because it’s a terrible practice that leads to stereotypical views of Aboriginal people and just perpetuates racism,” he added. The officer in question has been stood down and an internal investigation has been launched.

Police Commissioner Karl O’Callaghan says the results of the investigation into this incident will be released to the public once it is completed and appropriate action taken.

Posted by Zinzi Eka-Naphtali on 01/03/2011. Filed under Police Corruption. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry