How do Victoria Police’s total search hit rates compare with other jurisdictions?

While cross jurisdictional data needs to be treated with caution as it will vary depending on the different data quality control mechanisms and reporting requirements for each police agency and the different policing functions they engage in, there are some clear differences in find rates.

Jurisdiction Date Find Rate

NSW - Blacktown (a) 2022 -2023 12%

NSW - Parramatta (a) 2022-2023 16%

Victoria (b) 2022 16%

Victoria (b) 2023 17%

England and Wales (c) 2017 29%

North Carolina (d) 2002-2016 55%

Sourses:

(a) ABC analysis of BOCSAR data - 2024

(b) Racial Profiling Monitoring Project - 2024

(c) HMICFRS report - PEEL: Police legitimacy 2017 p29.

(d) Baumgartner, Epp, Shoub, 2018, Suspect Citizens, p113.

Based on the available data, Australian police have a substantially lower find rates for reasonable grounds searches than police forces in other jurisdictions. The poor performance of Australian police suggests that they engage in higher rates of unlawful searches. This suggests that Australian police are subject to less scrutiny and accountability than police in comparable countries.

How does Victoria Police’s find rate for African appearing people compared with White people contrast across jurisdictions?

Internationally, most racialised find rate comparisons investigate the difference in find rates between people perceived to be African with people perceived to be White. Victoria police’s data in 2018 and 2019 combines people perceived to be African with people perceived to be Middle Eastern. However in 2022 the records separate these two groups. I have used the 2022 and 2023 figures to compare with other jurisdictions in the table below. A disproportionality ratio is calculated by dividing the hit rate of the racialised group with the hit rate of caucasian group. Numbers below 1 indicate that police are searching racialised people on less reasonable grounds than White people and are engaged in racial profiling. The closer the number approaches 1 the more equity exists between the groups.

Jurisdiction Date African:Caucasian Find Rate Disproportionality Ratio

Victoria (a) 2022 0.70

Victoria (a) 2023 0.83

New York (b) 2007 0.83

England and Wales (c) 2017 0.79

North Carolina (d) 2002-2018 0.88

Source:

(a) Victorian Racial Profiling Monitoring Project

(b) Gelman et al, (2007, p820)

(c) HMICFRS, 2017, p.29. (drug searches only).

(d) Baumgartner, Epp, Shoub, 2018, p133.

While there are inconsistencies in data collection, dates, administrative and historical factors and in the types of policing conducted in each of these police services, it is notable that Victoria Police’s African/Caucasian hit rate (find rate) disproportionality ratio was worse in 2022 than other jurisdictions and on par with other jurisdictions in 2023. This indicates that racial profiling in Victoria is at least as critical a problem as other jurisdictions and demands far more attention than it currently receives.