Australia in 2019 In 1987, the
Fitzgerald Inquiry was launched in response to allegations of misconduct within the
Queensland Police Service, before later being expanded to investigate allegations of corruption within the
Queensland Government. At the conclusion of the inquiry, several senior police figures and government ministers were charged and jailed for various corruption offences. The inquiry led to the resignation of then Queensland Premier
Joh Bjelke-Petersen, who was later charged with perjury before the case was abandoned due to a
hung jury. In the mid-1990s, a
Royal Commission was established to investigate allegations of corruption and misconduct within the New South Wales Police Service (later changed to
New South Wales Police Force). The commission found that there was "systematic and entrenched" corruption within the organization, with adverse findings being made against 284 officers, seven of whom were jailed for various offences. In 2001, New South Wales Police were given the power to deploy
drug detection dogs at certain public locations across the state – namely at major events,
train stations and licensed venues. More recently, the practice has been criticized due to reports of officers routinely using indications from drug detection dogs as a justification for conducting
strip searches, particularly at major public events such as
music festivals (see
New South Wales Police Force Strip Search Scandal). In 2018, an inquiry was launched by the
state's police watchdog, who found that in several cases, officers had acted unlawfully. In 2022, a class action pertaining to strip searches conducted at music festivals from July 2016 onward was filed in the state's
Supreme Court.
Bahrain During
Bahraini uprising of 2011, the police forces of Bahrain were known for their heavy handedness. Many protesters and even medical staff who attended to the injured, were arrested.
Brazil Brazil has a historical problem with police violence including summary executions. Around 6,175 people were killed by police in 2018 and 6,416 in 2020, totaling 37,029 deaths since 2013. . Police violence is one of the most internationally recognized human rights abuses in Brazil. The problem of urban violence focuses on the perpetual struggle between police and residents of high crime
favelas such as the areas portrayed in the film
City of God and mainly
Elite Squad. Police response in many parts of Brazil is extremely violent, including
summary execution and torture of suspects. According to
Global Justice, in 2003, the police killed 1,195 people in the State of
Rio de Janeiro alone. In the same year 45 police officers were killed. It is often reacted to by local communities and trafficking groups with demonstrations and violent resistance, causing escalation and multiplying victims. Unofficial estimates show there are over 3,000 deaths annually from police violence in Brazil, according to Human Rights Watch. There are constant complaints of
racism,
abuses,
torture, executions and
disappearances. Not all states record police killings or keep accurate statistics. Reports of killings by Rio de Janeiro police decreased during the year under a new state security strategy. Statistics released by the
Rio de Janeiro State Secretariat for
Public Security showed 911
persons killed as a result of police confrontations from January through September, a 12 percent decrease over the same period in 2007. The Rio de Janeiro Institute for Public Security reported that police killed an average of four persons per day during 2007. According to a UN report released in September, police clashes resulted in 1,260 civilian deaths in Rio de Janeiro State in 2007. Most of these killings occurred during "
acts of resistance," the UN report commented. The
São Paulo State Secretariat for
Public Security reported that São Paulo state police (civil and military) killed 340
civilians in the state from January to September, compared with 315 during the same period in 2007. Cases involving extrajudicial executions were either under police investigation or before the state courts; observers believed that it could take years to resolve such cases. There were no
reports of politically motivated disappearances. However, the Center of Studies of Security and Citizenship estimated that in 2006 approximately 1,940
persons "
disappeared"; the center believed many were killed by police. There were no developments in the disappearance cases that occurred during the 1964–85
military dictatorship, and 400 cases remained for the
Amnesty Commission to analyze. There were also no developments regarding the 2007 Chamber of Deputies' Human Rights Committee request that the government seize documents to determine the circumstances of military regime political prisoner deaths and the locations of their remains.
Canada In October 2007, there was an incident at
Vancouver International Airport involving new Polish immigrant
Robert Dziekański. Dziekański was
tasered five times during the arrest, became unresponsive and died. The incident was video recorded by a civilian who turned it over to police, then sued to get it back for release to news outlets. The incident affected
taser use in Canada and relations with Poland. During the
2010 G-20 Toronto summit protests, police enacted regulations the
Ombudsman found contributed to "massive violations of civil rights". One regulation made the security zone
public works, and police interpreted this to permit them to arrest anyone not providing identification within five metres of the temporary fence. There were 1,118 arrests, with 800 released without charge. Police Chief
Blair conceded later no five-metre rule existed in law, and Ontario Premier
Dalton McGuinty was criticized for allowing this misinterpretation. In September 2011, officers who removed their name tags during the G-20 protests were refused promotion. Security officers in
Metrotown, Burnaby mall demanded pictures taken of an arrest be deleted from a teen's camera. This led to a verbal confrontation and the
RCMP handcuffing the teen and cutting off his backpack to search it. While the mall supports its officers' actions, according to the teen's lawyer: "private mall security guards and police have no right to try to seize someone's camera or demand that photos be deleted – even on private property."
China The collusion between local gangs and police officers is a serious problem in many Chinese cities. Local gang bosses make use of personal networks to bribe police officers, and police officers seek corrupt benefits by safeguarding their illegal businesses. A widely publicized case is the
Wen Qiang Case. Wen Qiang a deputy police chief, along with family members, were arrested as part of a
massive crackdown on corruption of the
People's Armed Police and organized crime in
Chongqing in late 2009. His crimes included bribes, rape and failing to account for assets. Wen was executed in July 2010. The trials highlighted the continued use of torture by police to obtain confessions, despite laws implemented in June 2010 excluding tortured confessions from being used in trials.
Egypt A high profile
rape case was reported in Egypt by a woman in 2014, who as of 8 February 2021 still seeks justice. In addition, the key witness who offered to help his friend, Seif Bedour, was subjected to torture while in pretrial custody. Bedour has been put through extreme forms of police misconduct and reportedly subjected to virginity tests via forced anal examination and drug tests. His family has been subjected to public humiliation and trauma following his misconduct in the custody. Meanwhile, the lack of adequate investigation into the 2014 Fairmont Hotel rape case has caused an unusual delay in serving justice to the victim.
France Recent social movements ("
Gilets jaunes", 2019-2020 strikes against the
pension system reform) brought to light a certain culture of violence ingrained within French police, particularly the
CRS. Although
French President Emmanuel Macron denied police brutality and the use of this term, he acknowledged that there have been some "individual errors" that shouldn't tarnish the police corps as a whole. A French newspaper has tracked various serious injuries that occurred during the
yellow vests movement. The death of a French deliveryman from a heart attack in January 2020 in Paris, after police restraining him in a prone position following a
traffic stop, prompted a debate in France over controversial restraint techniques used by police. Police interventions are mostly to prevent violent actions from members of radical and
anarchists groups ("
black blocs"), but an important number of bystanders,
journalists, and
firefighters have also been targeted by the police.
United Nations High Commissioner on
Human rights Michelle Bachelet compared the use of force in France to that seen in
protests in Sudan and
Haiti; in March 2019, the UN opened a formal inquiry into the use of police violence against France. The right to film police was made known when the "Sécurité Globale" (Global security) law was put under review by the
French Parliament.
Hong Kong India Corruption is found at all levels of the
Indian Police Service. Reform has been made difficult with honest officers pressured by powerful local officials and suffer punitive transfers and threats while corrupt officers receive promotions. An example is the transfer of Kiran Bedi for giving a parking ticket to the Prime Ministers car. A number of officers face charges in
Central Bureau of Investigation cases and disciplinary proceedings but it is alleged that no notable action under the penal provisions is taken. With citizens who are not aware of laws of India, police of
Andhra Pradesh can shout, swear and be verbally abusive. They are also corrupted by
organized crime groups called "factionalists" in
Rayalaseema. Some of the past scandals include murder, sexual harassment, sex-on-tape scandal, dowry harassment, fraud and fake killing encounter.
Iran After the 1979 revolution, the police have become more corrupt. A British-Australian doctor, Dr
Kylie Moore-Gilbert endured months of torture after she was arrested by Iranian police.
Italy Norway Police misconduct has become an issue of high media attention in
Norway. The
death of Eugene Ejike Obiora, a naturalized
Norwegian of
Nigerian origin in September 2006 stirred an uproar that has caused the authorities to announce significant changes to the way charges of
police brutality and other forms of police misconduct, including
corruption, involving the
Norwegian police will be handled in the future. As a consequence of the Obiora case, training at the Norwegian Police Academy has undergone changes and
national police director Ingelin Killengreen has instigated a thorough review of police methods in general. One officer employed in
Oslo Police District was sentenced in 2006 to two years in
prison for
human trafficking,
embezzlement of money and weapons, as well as theft of emergency
passports. Two cases were from
Follo Police District. One officer was accused of having
felt up a number of women during interrogations. He was acquitted on almost all charges by the
regional court. Another officer had been accused of
abuse of power during an arrest. The
Supreme Court of Norway ordered the case to be retried in the regional court after the acquittal was appealed. Another case involves a female officer from
Telemark Police District who was issued a fine of 10.000
kroner and the loss of her employment for a period of five years for embezzlement and
breach of confidentiality, among other issues. A prominent case of intentional
miscarriage of justice was against
Fritz Moen. In the case, several officers appear to have manipulated timelines, threatened the accused and witnesses, and made false statements to close the case. According to a 2012 official report, 18 police officers have lost their jobs as result of misconduct since 2005. On May 21, 2013, the owner of Circus Bazaar Magazine recorded on video two Norwegian plain-clothed police hold a handcuffed African migrant man on the ground and force multiple police batons his mouth under suspicion of concealing drugs. The man was then driven a significant distance outside the capital city of Oslo and left in an unknown location. The recording of the initial incident resulted in extensive investigations by multiple authorities in Norway, including Police internal affairs and the Norwegian Anti Discrimination Ombud. Although the police officers concerned were not charged, the investigations led to Oslo Police District being fined 80,000 Norwegian Kroner and receiving an organizational charge of "Gross misconduct". The event also resulted in significant media attention, with the Director of the Department of Public and International Law at the University of Oslo, Aslak Syse stating that "It may appear as if both the law against degrading and inhumane treatment (UCHR art. 3), and the law against the violation of a person's privacy, have been violated." The incident also led to the production of the documentary film
The Serpent in Paradise.
Poland The
Ministry of Public Security (MBP) was a Polish communist secret police service operating from 1945 to 1954 under
Jakub Berman. The MBP carried out brutal pacification of civilians, mass arrests,
makeshift executions such as the
Mokotów Prison murder and
1946 public execution in Dębica, and secret assassinations. Individual law enforcement officers noted for torture and terror include
Anatol Fejgin (1909–2002) and his deputy
Józef Światło (1915–1994), in charge of the MBP's notorious Special Bureau;
Salomon Morel (1919–2007), commander of the
Zgoda labour camp;
Stanisław Radkiewicz (1903–1987), head of the MBP's Department of Security (
UB) 1944–1954; and
Józef Różański (1907–1981), colonel in the MBP. After the fall of
communism the instances of police brutality are still noted in relation to policing sports matches, mostly football; the
1998 Słupsk riots and
2015 Knurów riots began after police officers killed a fan in both instances.
Russia Police corruption and brutality is rampant in Russia as it is common for officers to be hired as private security on the side by businessmen and
Russian mafia. This leads to conflicts of interest as business and political rivals are jailed with selective enforcement of laws and trumped-up charges, or kidnapped for ransom. These tactics are believed to have been used against billionaire
Mikhail Khodorkovsky to "weaken an outspoken political opponent, to intimidate other wealthy individuals and to regain control of strategic economic assets". Meanwhile, bureaucrats who are found guilty of significant crimes get away with light sentences. It is widely believed the
Federal Security Service (successor to the
KGB) remain in control using the police as foot soldiers, and are unaccountable with connections to organized crime and the Russian leadership.
Saudi Arabia Jamal Khashoggi was a critic of Saudi Arabia who was tortured and murdered by Saudi law enforcement officials. He was invited to the Saudi embassy in Turkey and was kidnapped there. In 2011, Saudi Arabia also sent law enforcement to next door Bahrain to put down protesters. The Police are also alleged to have used excessive force on critics and protesters.
United Kingdom Police misconduct/negligence in the UK has been altered numerous times due to the influx in claims in negligence against the police. The case of
Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire initially provided that police could not be liable in negligence since when investigating crime, the police owe no duty of care in tort to individual citizens. This was widely adopted by the courts, but there was backlash since it granted the police 'blanket immunity' essentially meaning they could not be liable in claims of negligence. This was demonstrated in the cases of
Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire,
Van Colle v Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and
Smith v Chief Constable of South Wales Police. This was later overruled in the case of
Robinson v Chief constable of West Yorkshire in which the courts held the police could be liable for harm caused to a claimant as a result of their direct actions. It was still acknowledged that similar to the general public, they do not have a duty of care to warn, protect or rescue an individual from harm caused by a third party of external factor. Years later, the
Chicago Police Department would deal with even more scandal involving the now infamous crooked cop Lt.
Jon Burge and the torture cases that came out of his district. The
New York Police Department (NYPD) had a
prominent case of two detectives working for the
Mafia during the 1980s. The
Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) in the late 1990s had a large incident of misconduct with the
Rampart scandal implicating 70 officers of an anti-gang unit called
C.R.A.S.H. This resulted in a US$70 million in lawsuit
settlement payouts, dissolving of the unit and the LAPD entering into a
consent decree with the
U.S. Department of Justice on comprehensive reforms. During the 1990s the
New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) also came under the
scrutiny of the
Justice Department when a series of crimes, including murders, by officers prompted attempts at reform by then Police Chief
Richard Pennington. In the wake of
Hurricane Katrina there was a spike in allegations of misconduct and in March 2011 the Justice Department published a 158-page report that found "systemic violations of civil rights" by a NOPD that routinely failed to discipline officers involved. Six cases stemming from Katrina have been investigated and followed closely by
ProPublica, one being the
Danziger Bridge shootings that resulted in two civilian deaths and four wounded. In August 2011, four officers were convicted of unlawfully firing on citizens then trying to cover it up with the assistance of a fifth investigating officer. In a number of jurisdictions, police officers have been accused of
ticket fixing.
Police lying under oath, particularly in drug crimes, is allegedly commonplace in certain areas; some federal grant programs such as
Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program are tied to numbers, and police officers may also feel pressured to prove their productivity. The
New York State Police Troop C scandal involved the fabrication of evidence used to convict suspects in New York by the
New York State Police.
Police Misconduct in Chicago's Police Department (CPD) Investigations have found that there is little to no accountability within the CPD. The department has neglected to investigate a majority of case complaints regarding police brutality. Investigations that were made were carried out poorly. Civilian and officer witnesses are often not interviewed, investigators ignored the potential for witness coaching and inappropriate coordination of testimony. Questioning of officers often aim to elicit favorable statements from them, often ignoring inconsistencies and unreasonable explanations when recounting events. ==See also==