Neville’s media conference on Wednesday was deeply depressing to those of us who care about ensuring police act within the law. Peppered with questions about these incidents, and another showing a man being head-butted against a cell door at Bendigo police station, her response was, “It’s not always pretty when you arrest someone.” And, anyway, she said, “You don’t tar the whole police force by a few incidences.” Did the video footage of these incidents make Neville ashamed of the organisation for which she is responsible? No, it seems. “There are confronting images you get. Policing is confronting,” she said, launching more tough-on-crime laws, this time ironically mandatory jail terms for ramming police cars. While Neville accepted the incidents published by The Age should be looked at, the script she stuck to on Wednesday could have been written by the Police Association, which simply trotted out the convenient line of "Well, there are two sides to every story" so let’s wait and see. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video The refusal by Neville to acknowledge these graphic illustrations of disproportionate use of force by police officers show this is a serious cultural problem within Victoria Police. That lack of accountability and oversight are perpetuating the problem is troubling to say the least.

As former deputy Commonwealth director of public prosecutions Mark Le Grand observed this week, these incidents show a “fairly high level of inappropriate culture”. “The fact it was so open, so blatant is really quite disturbing and tends to show the current processes for police accountability in Victoria really need to be looked at,” Le Grand said. But not only was Neville’s stubborn willingness to play down systemic police brutality in Victoria outrageous given what has been exposed by The Age, it is also concerning that she seemed to imply the ends justifies the means because police are dealing with violent people. Police are “tackling the worst of the worst” in the criminal justice system said Neville, and “sometimes that gets messy”. In a civilised society the rule of law applies. The ends do not justify the means when it comes to law enforcement and police do not have a right to use excessive force. And irrespective of what a person’s criminal record may be they are entitled to the protection of the law and to expect that police act in compliance with the law. Neville’s response to The Age's expose of egregious examples of police brutality shows she abjectly fails to understand that her role is not to defend the indefensible but to insist that all members of Victoria Police at all times act ethically and within the bounds of the law.

One hopes that her colleagues, particularly the minister responsible for the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission, Gavin Jennings, censor her. At this point, though, it appears the Andrews government, and the opposition for that matter, are willing to give a green light to excessive use of force by police. The logic, such as it is, seems to be that it is a jungle out there, violent criminals must be brought to heel, and therefore do whatever it takes to ensure that occurs. The other issue that emerges from The Age’s expose of police violence is that it is a result of politicians, in the name of the seemingly endless "law and order’"debate, giving police extensive powers to stop, search and physically restrain citizens. By constantly expanding their powers, legislators are making it more likely police will overstep the mark and use disproportionate force. And when the minister responsible for police says, as Neville did this week, “it is not our job to second guess police” the clear signal being sent by legislators is that they regard scrutiny of police actions as being of secondary importance. Loading