A Queensland Police Officer Threatened To “Flog” An Indigenous Man

A Queensland police officer has been caught on camera threatening to “flog” and “hurt” an Indigenous man he was trying to apprehend.

In the footage taken a fortnight ago, acquired by the ABC, the officer pulls up to the man’s sister Jacinta Munn to ask if she had seen her brother, wanted for allegedly stealing $40 worth of gambling tickets.

“If he comes to me it looks a lot better for him, because either way he’s getting arrested,” said the officer in the clip. “If you do see him, tell him to come to me before I find him, before I flog him.” When Munn questions why he’d flog him, he shrugged it off: “No, I’m just gonna hurt him a little.”

The man’s father told the ABC on Friday that as soon as he saw the footage, his son immediately fled, with the family concerned at the officer’s ‘giggling’ captured on the tape. He said he was concerned his son wouldn’t be back to spend Christmas at home in Cunnamulla.

“When you have a police officer, that is out there to protect and serve, say that they want to bash your son, I fear for not just his life, but all of my family,” said his father. “If my son’s done wrong, then take him, but don’t threaten him along the way.”

The Queensland Police Service responded to say an internal inquiry was underway in the South West District Office, and that it’s expected “all sworn members and civilian staff to adhere to the QPS Integrity Framework and the Queensland Public Service Code of Conduct”.

“Every QPS member is expected to treat all members of the public with respect,” said a spokesperson for the force.

“The statement that they put out was fairly lacklustre,” University of Queensland writer and researcher Professor Chelsea Watego told NITV, noting the injustice of a man facing jail time over Keno tickets at all. “The ease with which Blackfullas can find themselves incarcerated is a form of state-sanctioned violence that we also need to be discussing in the context of this conversation.”