Queensland Police are meeting to-day. Miss Eagle supports them in their efforts to get the Beattie government to implement recommendations of the 1991 Black Deaths in Custody report, which called for round-the-clock supervision of indigenous people in custody, video surveillance and the removal of "danger points" (such as hanging devices). This is long overdue. At a minimum, police are calling for an extra 200 officers in remote communities.As Miss Eagle has said in a previous post, policing in Aboriginal communities is a difficult task. Police need more support in carrying out the tasks expected of them. Government needs to provide support for the communities which the police serve so that the enforcement arm of government is not expected to pick up the pieces from government neglect.
If from the death of Mulrunji and the painful journey of Chris Hurley emerges positive change, this will be a good thing.
