“The Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project sheds light on policing practices that would otherwise remain unseen. Data is not just numbers; it tells a story and provides insight into practices that occur over time and are detrimental and discriminatory. I commend the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project for bringing this data into the public eye.” 

• Samantha Lee  
  Supervising Solicitor for the police accountability practice at Redfern Legal Centre. 

" The launch of the Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project is an important milestone in holding Victoria Police accountable to its commitment to end racial profiling. This tool empowers communities and advocates by providing transparent data that highlights disparities in how marginalised and First Nations people are treated by law enforcement. As the data is raw, it enables advocates to conduct tailored analyses to uncover unique insights and perspectives, fostering a deeper understanding of the systemic issues at play." 
 

• Viraaj Akuthota  
  Director of Tech Solutions for Human Rights, a non-profit organisation that enables substantive access to human rights through the use of free and innovative technology while implementing Human-Centered design principles 

“The Racial Profiling Data Monitoring Project is a crucial intervention. Police racial profiling is a fundamental injustice, affecting people’s sense of belonging in the community as well as their chances of criminalisation. The Project demonstrates that police racial profiling continues to occur in Victoria and that urgent action is needed, from better data collection practices to external police oversight. In so doing, it moves us one step closer to accountability for such harm.” 

• Nesam McMillan 
  Associate Professor, School of Social and Political Science 
  Melbourne University 

This work fighting to obtain and make public the data police hold about their practices is vital to the community. It offers an essential window into the racial profiling, bias and discrimination that runs through policing in this state. This data strikingly interrupts and counters the state narrative that police represent safety for communities. The evidence here shows the violence and widespread pattern of racial profiling and discriminatory policing for what it is. The self-investigative police complaints system and culture of impunity around Victoria Police leaves people and communities who are survivors of the violence and brutality of police having to fight for access to the data that shows that this harm is more than an exception or a one-off. That it is in fact a pattern. 
This data reinforces what communities know to be true - that racial profiling is widespread and in the fabric of policing and who it targets. 
 

• Lauren Caulfield (Coordinator, Beyond Survival)  
  Flat Out