ELEANOR HALL: Now to potential changes in the way that police in Victoria deal with ethnic minorities.

The state's police force agreed in court this morning to hold a public inquiry into whether its officers routinely engage in racial discrimination when they're stopping people for questioning.

The agreement settles a long-running case brought by a group of African youths from Melbourne's inner suburbs.

Samantha Donovan was at court in Melbourne this morning and joins us now.

So Sam, tell us what sparked this case?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well Eleanor, about eight years ago the community legal service in the Flemington and Kensington area in inner Melbourne began to see a lot of complaints from young members of the local African communities that police were targeting them unfairly, they thought - stopping and searching them on the street, they claimed for no apparent reason.

And they also claimed police were at times mistreating them because of their race and there were allegations of assaults as well.

So the lawyers initially took the case to the Australian Human Rights Commission, but they didn't have much success, so they decided to mount this case on behalf of six young men against individual members of Victoria Police and the State of Victoria, and the basis of the case was the allegation that the police behaviour was illegal under the Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act.

Significantly, one of the members of the force who was to be subpoenaed to give evidence in the case was the chief commissioner of Victoria Police, Ken Lay. He was a deputy commissioner and in charge of this region when the allegations were first looked into a few years ago.

So the settlement of the case today means he won't have to give evidence.

ELEANOR HALL: So how did the police respond to these allegations?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well all along, they've consistently denied that they engage in racial profiling. They say that the young men involved in the case were stopped and questioned by police for legitimate reasons, and the police deny that any excessive force was used at any time.

But part of the agreement today is the acknowledgement by Victoria Police that any policing involving racial discrimination is unacceptable.

The lawyers for the young men did a very close analysis of the statistics available and they had a leading statistician from the University of Melbourne analyse how often young men of African descent were stopped by Victoria Police in this area.

And Professor Peter Gordon concluded that they were two-and-a-half times more likely to be stopped by police and have that police contact reported on the police records - two-and-a-half-times more likely than other young men in the area.

And that statistician also concluded though that the statistic showed that those young African men were actually less likely to have committed a crime.

ELEANOR HALL: So what has the police force now agreed to do about this?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well they've agreed, Eleanor, to call for public comment by the middle of the year on two things; first, how police deal with what they call field contacts, when they stop someone in public and ask them what they're doing and secondly feedback on cross-cultural training within Victoria Police.

They've then agreed that by the end of the year, they'll announce what action they'll take in response to that public feedback.

The force hasn't said much this morning aside from the agreement that was read out in court but they have said that the agreement is a positive thing and will allow it to look closely at its policies and its cross-cultural training.

ELEANOR HALL: So how significant is this decision, could it set precedents in other states?

SAMANTHA DONOVAN: Well it is, I understand, the first time - or this is what the lawyers say - the first time that a federal racial discrimination case has gone all the way to the Federal Court and police practices have been put under such close scrutiny.

The young men involved, Eleanor, and their lawyers are hoping it'll lead to a change in practices. They're asking for example for the introduction of a receipt or a ticket system whereby if you're stopped for questioning by police, the officer must give you a docket or some sort of ticket explaining why you were stopped.

The lawyers for the group of young African men say it is a landmark Australian case and they expect that other Australian jurisdictions will be watching the outcome of the Victoria Police inquiries closely.

Tamar Hopkins is a solicitor with the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre in Melbourne and she spoke outside the court.

TAMAR HOPKINS: Australia is actually a long way behind dealing with racial profiling and racial discrimination by police. Until now, really there's been almost a blanket silence by police that this is an issue even, you know, worth discussing.

So I think today is an absolutely astonishing thing that has occurred, to have the Victoria Police actually acknowledge that racial discrimination by police is unacceptable and to launch an inquiry, a public inquiry into their field contact practices and their training on multicultural relations and is just quite extraordinary.

ELEANOR HALL: Lawyer Tamar Hopkins from the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre. She was speaking outside the court there and our reporter Samantha Donovan at the court in Melbourne.