Watchdog condemns AFP after innocent Indigenous teen pulled off bus at gunpoint

A watchdog has condemned the Australian Federal Police over the wrongful arrest of an Indigenous boy last year.

The Commonwealth Ombudsman raised concerns that the AFP did not understand racial profiling, after ACT Policing officers stopped a half-full Canberra bus in Woden, and removed an innocent 17-year-old boy at gunpoint on November 11.

“Three police officers entered with guns drawn,” the watchdog said in a report that outlined eight recommendations.

“Once off the bus, he was brought to the ground, handcuffed and arrested. Less than 90 seconds later the police realised they had made a mistake.”

But even after one officer declared, “it’s not him”, officers searched the boy’s bag.

“Your officers slammed him onto the ground. Your officers pinned him down with their knees. And even after realising they had the wrong boy, they still searched him, a terrified child,” family and supporters said outside the Legislative Council.

The Chief Police Officer said at the time that, based on body-worn camera footage and briefings, he stood by the actions of officers that misidentified the boy who “matched the physical description” of an armed offender after a robbery at Westfield.

But the AFP acknowledged on Tuesday night the Professional Standards Unit review found “the search was a serious breach of the AFP Code of Conduct relating to searching of the young person”.

Police apologised to the boy in the moment of the bungled arrest, during subsequent press conferences, and in the statement on Tuesday, but have denied that the boy was racially profiled.

“There was no evidence to suggest race or other discriminatory factors influenced interactions between police and the young person, or that excessive force was used during the arrest,” AFP said on Tuesday.

The watchdog’s report described the force used by police on the boy as “potentially lethal”, but found the force used was consistent with AFP training, given that officers were on a bus, and had assumed they had apprehended the right person.

It slammed police for failing to give proper aftercare to the boy; he got a clap on the back and an apology while he was still being searched, unaware he had been “unarrested”.

Police did not contact the boy’s family, who found out days later, and have since said the traumatised teen still refuses to catch the bus, and experiences anxiety attacks when police cars pass.

Of the Ombudsman’s eight recommendations, which included suggestions related to communication, clarity and trauma, five had to do with policy and understandings related to First Nations peoples.