Victoria Police
Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (17:26): (1963) My adjournment matter today is to the Minister for Police, and the action that I seek is for you to make inquiries as to why Victorian police officers are still wearing thin blue line badges in our state. The thin blue line badge, as has been widely documented, is a symbol of violence. It is a symbol of racism, and it is a symbol of white supremacy. Minister, last year you confirmed, as I have raised this previously, that Victoria Police officers are not authorised to wear patches referencing the thin blue line on their uniforms and that it was the responsibility, in terms of enforcement, for Victoria Police supervisors to enforce this. Last month Victoria Police again confirmed to the ABC that the patch was not approved, yet following recent anti-immigration protests, reports have been raised with me again of officers apparently wearing the patch while neo-Nazis demonstrated behind them. Earlier this year we saw photos of an officer wearing the same symbol at a rally in Footscray for Abdifatah Ahmed, an African Australian man shot dead by police. We saw it again on the uniforms of security contractors hired by the City of Melbourne to crack down on begging. I will note for the record the use of the symbol by police officers is not limited to this state. We have seen it in New South Wales and Queensland and recently in the Northern Territory. Minister, the connotations of the thin blue line symbol are not ambiguous. There is potential for this hinting at a broader cultural issue among police officers, with far-right attitudes, racialised policing and the use of violence as a first response. The risk of this being more widespread is incredibly dangerous. How can migrants or First Nations people feel safe on our streets while this symbol is being openly displayed? The ban on these patches is evidently not being properly enforced at this stage, and more needs to be done to rid it from the force entirely.