Expanded ‘Jack's law' police powers could lead to further ‘surveillance and harassment' of some Queenslanders, expert warns

The Guardian

a day ago

Vulnerable and marginalised Queenslanders could be subjected to 'surveillance and harassment' under strengthened laws permitting police to detain and search any person anywhere in the state, the lead author of the only state-funded report into them has warned.
'Jack's law' permits police to randomly detain any person to search them with a metal detecting wand without the normal requirement that they reasonably suspect the person of a crime. However the powers are now limited to specific locations such as supermarkets, train stations and nightclub districts. The government says the law enables police to prevent knife violence.
Parliament is expected to pass legislation on Wednesday expanding the law to include any public place in Queensland, and removing a sunset clause so that Jack's law – which first came into effect in May 2021 – becomes permanent.
Prof Janet Ransley of Griffith University's criminology institute was commissioned by the state government in 2021 to review a year-long trial of the powers that ran from 1 May 2021 to 30 April 2022 . At the time, Jack's law – which was named after 17-year-old murder victim Jack Beasley, who was stabbed to death in 2019 – only applied on the Gold Coast.
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Ransley's review found evidence that 'a small number of officers' were wanding people because of 'non-offending behaviours' such as being in groups, and warned there was a risk of 'stereotypes and discrimination'.
Despite a recommendation from Ransley's 2022 report, the review remains the only independent assessment of the program, Ransley said.
Ransley said the 'worst case scenario' would be for the expanded version of Jack's law to be used as 'another form of surveillance and harassment of those people who are already over surveilled' in Queensland.
'That includes First Nations people. It includes homeless people. It includes people with mental health issues who are visible on the streets.'
She said it could also adversely affect vulnerable young people staying in a public place to flee family or sexual violence at home.
'It increases the level of intrusiveness into those vulnerable people's lives, without providing any support or mechanism for them to avoid that.'
According to police statistics, 83% of the 100,611 people wanded since Jack's law came into effect were male. Of people with known ethnic origin, 11.8% were Indigenous – despite Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making up only 4.6% of Queensland's population, according to census figures. A survey of 6,705 people scanned at shopping centres showed that 76% were male, and 55% were younger than 18.
During another year-long trial that ended in June 2024, police laid more charges for drug possession – 1,384 – than for knife offences, of which 413 were recorded.
'There's no evidence that it's in any way effective in actually reducing knife related violence, which is the whole premise of the law,' Ransley said.
The police minister, Dan Purdie, said the law 'is working' and the Crisafulli government 'makes no apology' for taking 'strong action against knife crime'.
'Since April 2023, police have conducted more than 116,000 wandings, made more than 3,000 arrests and seized more 1,100 weapons,' Purdie said.
'In that time, just one complaint has been lodged – proof officers are using these powers professionally and responsibly.'
Purdie has previously said there would be a number of safeguards, including the requirement that a senior officer must sign off on wanding operations outside statutory areas such as nightclub districts.
He said in April that police had 'shown they can be trusted with the legislation' and that other states 'are now taking our lead'.
A range of legal bodies opposed the Crisafulli government's expansion of the law in submissions to a parliamentary committee inquiry earlier this year.
The Queensland Human Rights Commission submission warned the legislation 'provides for the broad, unfettered use of hand held scanners' and that the 'limitations placed on human rights' were 'unlikely to be justified'.
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties president Michael Cope said 'it abrogates a fundamental protection of individual liberty, by removing the requirement of a police officer to have a reasonable suspicion prior to conducting a search of a person.'
Labor is expected to back the legislation this week.
Ransley's review also recommended the government conduct another inquiry, but Purdie refused to commit to one on Wednesday.