今日吃瓜

By Dr. Chris Pepin-Neff

I have heard too many times in the past two weeks that we need to defund the police in Sydney.

Verbally bashing the cops is popular, but it does not make anyone safer. And聽ONE WEEK聽before hundreds of thousands of LGBTIQ+ community members come to town for Mardi Gras – I cannot understand the strategy.

If the point was (a) that Mardi Gras gets media attention so let鈥檚 take advantage and lambast the police, then it鈥檚 an awful plan because lots of people at Mardi Gras may need support services that front-line police provide; or (b) to give NSW MP Alex Greenwich leverage on his Equality Bill over the Minns Government that would be too middle-school politics.

This makes no sense 鈥� unless there is a hidden plan to marshall hundreds of community members to attend the march and 3:00 am after-parties to look after people.

I haven鈥檛 heard that yet.

What I have heard is that after the meeting with Pride in Protest, Lord Mayor Clover Moore鈥檚 Safety Summitt with ACON announced it would ban police from attending the event, Clover Moore stated, 鈥淚 was extremely concerned by the personal experiences of police behaviour towards the LGBTIQA+ community that you described. Following our meeting and further discussions with ACON,聽I have made the decision not to invite NSW Police Force to the Summit.鈥�

I did attend the Summit, but before I did 鈥� I sent an email to Alex and the NSW Police with these four points:

1. 颁辞尘尘耻苍颈迟测-尝别诲:听Data shows that local community residents play a central role in crime prevention and resilience;
2. Policy Violence:聽There is a long history of police violence, mistrust, and abuse from police toward the LGBTIQA+ community, particularly around the trans community in NSW.
3. Police are Important:聽There is no data to support banning police as a solution to reducing violence on Oxford Street and other LGBTQIA+ community neighbourhoods in Sydney.聽聽notes, 鈥淭he study found no change in arrest rates following the increase in police numbers. This indicates that, in this case, police reduced theft and motor vehicle theft primarily through deterring offenders from committing crimes rather than through incapacitation.鈥�
4. LGBTIQA+ Policy Officers:聽It is important to ensure there is support for queer, trans, and gender-diverse police officers in NSW.

In addition, on February 22, the CEO of ACON wrote a piece in the Sydney Morning Herald 别苍迟颈迟濒别诲,听

And then, of course, there are the terrible, horrible, and tragic murders of Jesse Baird and Luke Davies. The Sydney Morning聽Herald鈥檚聽is now stating that NSW Police should not march in Mardi Gras, writing:聽

Get In A Room Like Adult People Do, And Make A Plan

What to do? First, make sure Mardi Gras is safe.聽Everyone look after each other. Go there and go home in pairs.聽And then all the stakeholders should get in a room like adult people do, and make a plan. This is a moment for grown-ups and the extremes on the right and the left need to take a seat. Police are not going anywhere 鈥� but reform and accountability, training, and system change are definitely needed. I鈥檓 not saying any of this is easy but let鈥檚 be situationally aware: Mardi Gras is in 5 days!

Most of this underlying problem in my estimation comes from political weakness to reform the system. If Labor is weak, then let鈥檚 call them out. But police are civil servants and piling on acrimony following an awful tragedy has the potential to create a volatile atmosphere at Mardi Gras which helps absolutely no one. Please be safe.

Dr. Chris Pepin-Neff (they/them) is an academic and local resident of Surry Hills. They are the author of two books, including LGBTQ Lobbying in the United States.聽