New Met police video

[Soap + 1,575]

 

 

Apologies if wrong section. It appears to be in NZ? I think the situation was very well handled giving the circs!

[CR8623 243]

That's Victoria Police - well they're 'Protective Services' kinda like our BTP. They look after bus and rail stations. 

[Soap + 1,575]

That's Victoria Police - well they're 'Protective Services' kinda like our BTP. They look after bus and rail stations. 

​It is NZ then?

[CR8623 243]

No, Australia 

[Soap + 1,575]

No, Australia 

​Ah, My Oceania geography is poor!

[CR8623 243]

They're very alike... But the NZ accent compared to the Aus accent is noticeable  

[Inbtsiyp + 347]

Another clue that this was Australia and not NZ is that both officers are armed with a taser and a pistol. NZ police are very similar to UK police in that they are not routinely armed and taser is only issued to specially trained officers. Australia interestingly enough have some of the heaviest routinely armed officers in the world. Carrying a baton, incapacitated spray, firearm and taser as standard. Even a lot of American States still don't issue taser as standard. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CR8623 243]

Another clue that this was Australia and not NZ is that both officers are armed with a taser and a pistol. NZ police are very similar to UK police in that they are not routinely armed and taser is only issued to specially trained officers. Australia interestingly enough have some of the heaviest routinely armed officers in the world. Carrying a baton, incapacitated spray, firearm and taser as standard. Even a lot of American States still don't issue taser as standard. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thats because they actually want to be prepared for all events rather than wait for backup. 

For WA Police, you do a 28-week intense training course at their state of the art police academy. I would know cos I start my training there next year  

[Burnie 2,084]

Well you kinda have to be prepared for anything when some Australian Police Officers have an individual 'beat area' that has an incident response time measured in Days and if they call "officer under attack" the response is pretty much "good luck..."

Edited May 29, 2015 by Burnie

[Yeahduffman + 18]

They were very restrained there (The PSOs).. Hopefully both were arrested as they were both as bad as each other!

[Milankovitch + 3,445]

Disgusting. I did not need to see that blokes backside.

[Radman + 2,165]

That's Victoria Police - well they're 'Protective Services' kinda like our BTP. They look after bus and rail stations. 

​Well not really - they aren't 'police' for a start, unlike the BTP you have over here, you lucky people!

Australia didn't want to set up a separate/specialist 'railway constabulary' (I have a feeling there was opposition from the Victoria Police Union) so these guys are a real mish-mash of ideas.... Partly inspired by PCSO's and partly inspired by BTP/Transit Police but with VERY limited police powers....Yet oddly they are authorised to carry firearms.... Go figure.

In my view they should have just made an 'Australian Transport Police' and have been done with it, these guys seem like a silly half measure to address a real serious problem (crime on rail/transit systems.)

Community legal centres push to remove guns from Victoria's protective services officers

AM

Posted 1 May 2015, 12:37am

Photo: The first batch of Melbourne PSOs started working in February 2012, around Melbourne's CBD. (ABC News)

Audio: Community lawyers urge Vic Govt to disarm Protective Services Officers (AM)

Map: Melbourne 3000

Community lawyers in Victoria are urging the State Government to remove the guns of protective service officers (PSOs) patrolling train stations, saying the officers do not have enough training.

The call was one of eight recommendations included in a report by Victoria's Federation of Community Legal Centres (FCLC) tracking the first three years of PSOs.

The PSOs were deployed to Melbourne train stations by the former Coalition government, and 940 officers now cover the entire city network and the big regional stations from 6:00pm every night.

The officers receive 12 weeks training from Victoria Police before reporting for duty.

The FCLC's Michelle McDonnell said it was inappropriate for PSOs to carry firearms due to their lack of experience, but did not oppose the use of capsicum spray.

"It's not appropriate ... they get 12 weeks training whereas police get about 33 weeks training," Ms McDonnell said.

FCLC(Victoria) recommendations:

1. Only request personal information on a statutory basis
2. Remove guns from PSOs
3. Annual report on incidents of use of force
4. Independent public body to monitor use of force
5. More targeted deployment to high-crime stations
6. State Government implement future Auditor-General recommendations
7. Annual report on number of fines issued
8. Issuing of fines monitored by independent body

"There've been reports that some PSOs feel rushed into the training course and then they're thrown out onto train stations, so that's an issue. "

The report said that if police did not accept the recommendation then a review should be conducted by an independent public body to reduce the risk of avoidable shootings.

Ms McDonnell said community lawyers have had scores of complaints about PSOs using excessive force or needlessly asking commuters for their personal details.

"Two young boys had decided to get a train and one of them had jumped the ticket wicket, he didn't have enough money to get the train and the PSOs pursued both boys," she said.

"The boy that legitimately had a ticket was also sprayed with the capsicum spray."

Ms McDonnell said PSOs should also be accountable for the number of times capsicum spray was used.

"They should actually report publicly every year on the number of times that people are sprayed," she said.

"We want to know how many young people, how many vulnerable people are being sprayed and at the moment we don't know, we want that public accountability."

The FCLC, which represents 49 community legal centres in Victoria, said use of force across the board also needed to made publicly available by Victoria Police.

"We'd like to see the number of times a PSO uses force say compared with a police officer," Ms McDonnell said.

"We simply don't have that data, it's a real risk. If you don't know how they're tracking in terms of the number of times they use force, you simply don't know what kind of issues are out there."

Police 'dedicated to improving PSO program'

Victoria Police said it was reviewing the FCLC report and had some concerns about the reliability of the evidence used.

There had been "a lot of positive feedback from the community" about feeling more secure on public transport at night, police said.

But they said they were dedicated to the continuous improvement of the PSO program and were keen to discuss the report with the federation.

Link

 

Also much like our PCSO's there is ALOT of public animosity towards them - again, be done with them and just set up a Specialist Constabulary...

 

 

Edited May 29, 2015 by Radman

[CountyCop + 178]

Interesting video Soap well done for finding it!

Not very well handled, as soon as he was told that he was under arrest he should have been cuffed and put to the floor, especially when displaying that level of aggression.  I personally would not have stood for that level of resistance, I would have told them what they were being arrested for and acted accordingly. Had they not complied and like they did, I would have deployed PAVA, I’m sure that would have nipped it in the bud.

It seemed that in this scenario those ‘PSOs’ were well out of their depth, they weren’t clearly communicating with the people that they were dealing with, by not telling the chaps what they were under arrest for and explain what action they were going to take against them. Nor were they managing to deal with the confrontation effectively, at one point they let those guys walk away from them, again only further adding to the confusion and aggression. I find it worrying that these PSO’s are given guns, they really did not seem comfortable using basic levels of PPE, let alone anything higher.

I echo what others have said on here, I think it would be much better for them to have a clear dedicated transit police rather than this mix of security/police/pcso role. Clearly no one quite knows where they stand and there seems to be quite a bit of resistance from the public to these officers in their role.

[Radman + 2,165]

I echo what others have said on here, I think it would be much better for them to have a clear dedicated transit police rather than this mix of security/police/

pcso

role. Clearly no one quite knows where they stand and there seems to be quite a bit of resistance from the public to these officers in their role.

 

​

Yup exactly my point, they seem to be a half measure but worryingly the Australian Government has watered down the role of constable in the country, they've given arrest powers (reading their powers online it seems it only really is a detention power as ALL arrested individuals have be handed over to police - similar to PCSO's.) to non-warranted officers and then armed them with full PPE!

It's madness... Almost verging on stupidity and stinks of 'doing things on the cheap' - something the Australian public will no doubt see through.

If they want a transit police then actually create a transport policing body, with properly trained constables who know what they're doing...

There is the added element of people understanding what a warranted cop can do over a randomly named 'officer' - I think this role just causes much confusion.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Radman

[Cameron 27]

​

Yup exactly my point, they seem to be a half measure but worryingly the Australian Government has watered down the role of constable in the country, they've given arrest powers (reading their powers online it seems it only really is a detention power as ALL arrested individuals have be handed over to police - similar to PCSO's.) to non-warranted officers and then armed them with full PPE!

It's madness... Almost verging on stupidity and stinks of 'doing things on the cheap' - something the Australian public will no doubt see through.

If they want a transit police then actually create a transport policing body, with properly trained constables who know what they're doing...

There is the added element of people understanding what a warranted cop can do over a randomly named 'officer' - I think this role just causes much confusion.

Your last point cold also be said for PCSO'S. I can't believe that the Government hasn't yet standardised their powers from force to force, or seem to have any plans to. It's crazy how much they can vary from force to force. The governmet needs to decide on what they want PCSOs  to do.