And how exactly does he think this will win him and election I think not! Victorian police will be given new powers to secretly search homes - for crimes that could include theft and minor assaults - if the Napthine government is re-elected. Lawyers have criticised an exposure draft for a new state government bill to overhaul criminal investigation powers, saying they will lead to more children as young as 10 being fingerprinted. Under the proposal, quietly released by the state government this week, the threshold for obtaining fingerprints and DNA samples would be reduced. Fingerprints and DNA samples would be able to be obtained from people suspected on reasonable grounds to have committed a relevant offence, rather than the current threshold of believed to have committed an offence. And covert search warrants - allowing police to secretly search premises - could be issued for indictable offences carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment or more. They are currently reserved for only terrorism-related offences. Australian Lawyers Alliance spokesman and barrister Greg Barns said the Coalitions proposal would lead to an increase in arrests and profiling, and more 10 to 14-year-olds would have their fingerprints stored on a national database. A 10-year-olds involvement in the criminal justice system should be kept to a minimum. If police can round up a kid on the basis that they have a suspicion they might be able to commit an offence, it becomes very problematic. He said the exposure draft released by the Napthine government had no policy justification. Covert warrants were often abused in Australia, he said, because there is not a strongly enforceable right to privacy. Read more: theage.au/victoria/victoria-state-election-2014/new-police-powers-proposed-by-napthine-20141029-11dv4s.html#ixzz3Hfsv6aYu
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 22:44:08 +0000
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