Inquest into the death of Stanley Russell

Case Number: 2021/319041

Findings Date: 14 April 2023

Magistrate: Carmel Forbes

CORONIAL LAW | manner of death; death in the course of a police operation; police executing a bench warrant; planning and risk assessment; discharges of firearm by police; requirement for wearing and activating body worn cameras

Responses

Recommendations

The Commissioner of Police

1. Consideration be given by the NSWPF to updating the wording of the BWV Standard Operating Procedures Version 2.4 to make clear to officers of the NSWPF:

(i) when they are required to turn their BWV on to recording (as compared to turning on to standby mode);

(ii) the scope of their discretion not to record on BWV when their activities otherwise fall within the scope of "When to Use BWV" identified on page 7 of the BWV Standard Operating Procedures.

2. Consideration be given by the NSW Police Force to ensuring that that in Blacktown (and other communities with high populations of First Nations people):

(i) there is an Aboriginal Community Liaison Officer (ACLO) engaged at the relevant Police Area Command (PAC) or Police District (PD);

(ii) that the police within the relevant PAC or PD be required to complete a training module on aboriginal cultural competency; and

(iii) that any such cultural competency training includes specific training on the role of an ACLO and the ways in which an ACLO can assist an officer undertaking general duties in respect of First Nations people.

3. Consideration should be given by the NSW Police Force to:

(i) identifying appropriate ways for ACLOs to be involved prior to the execution of arrest warrants on First Nations people; and

(ii) specifying the ways identified in accordance with recommendation 3(i) in the role description of ACLOs, the training given to ACLOs, and training given to other officers in the NSW Police Force as to the role of ACLOs.

4. Consideration be given to introducing a policy or standard operating procedure requiring that:

(i) officers who suspect that a person may be suffering from an intellectual disability make a record of that in COPS against the individual's COPS profile.

(ii) before seeking to execute a bench warrant by entering the home of a person identified on the COPS database, or otherwise known to police officers, as possibly suffering from an intellectual disability or mental health issues, officers consider:

a. available warnings and available information to ascertain the person's mental health issues, intellectual disability, and specific vulnerabilities.

b. available information suggesting a history of self-harm, increased risk of violence or the use of weapons.

(iii) the information set out in (i) and (ii) above be taken into account in deciding whether or not to execute a bench warrant by entering a person's home to attempt to locate them, and if it is decided to attempt to effect an arrest, in planning how best to undertake an operation to arrest the person to minimise the risk of harm to the person, the police and the public; and

(iv) other than in circumstances of urgency, the NSWPF consider alternatives to arrest as a means of executing a bench warrant where there is any indication that the person of interest has an intellectual disability, and that in such circumstances the NSWPF shall attempt to contact the person directly and indirectly, and to identify if there is a means of liaising with the individual, to encourage voluntary attendance at a police station by the person of interest and to elicit information relevant to the potential risk to the person, the public, or to police arising from any attempt to execute the warrant.

5. Consideration be given to the NSWPF working with the Justice Advocacy Service to introduce a procedure whereby if the Justice Advocacy Service (JAS), or other similar advocacy service on behalf of persons with an intellectual disability, has notified the NSWPF that they are involved in a case or as regards a person of interest, the NSWPF shall contact JAS, or that other service, before undertaking an operation to execute a bench warrant:

(i) to ascertain whether JAS, or the other service, can attempt to contact the person of interest to attempt to persuade the person to attend a police station or court voluntarily; and

(ii) to seek information from JAS, or the other service, as to any vulnerability or disability that may be relevant to the execution of the warrant.

The Commissioner of Police and the Aboriginal Legal Service

That the NSW Police Commissioner and the Aboriginal Legal Service consider jointly developing a procedure for the execution of bench warrants on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander defendants which encourages defendants to hand themselves in to the police and/or to the court and which involves:

(i) the NSWPF, nominating a fixed period of time (to be determined as part of the policy and procedure) during which police will postpone execution of the warrant for the purpose of enabling the steps set out below to take place, with a view, if possible, to facilitating voluntary presentation by the person the subject of the warrant to a police station or court; and

(ii) mandatory notification by the NSWPF to the Aboriginal Legal Service within a fixed period of time of receiving the warrant:

a. of the fact that a warrant has been received; and

b. nominating a police officer as a contact for the warrant.

(iii) by the Aboriginal Legal Service, either directly or by referral to other services or persons, upon receipt of a notification by the NSWPF, seeking to communicate directly or indirectly with the person the subject of the warrant and seeking to advise about and support them in handing themselves into the police or a court, preferably by appointment;

(iii) by the NSWPF, additionally, using ACLOs engaged by the NSWPF to attempt to communicate directly or indirectly with the person the subject of the warrant to seek to encourage and support them to hand themselves into the police or a court, preferably by appointment and providing information about appropriate legal and support services to advise and assist in that process.

(iv) by the NSWPF, to establish clearly defined circumstances in which the notification requirement and the fixed period of time as set out in (i) above may be dispensed with; and

(v) That any protocol that is developed be called the Stanley Protocol.

Related content