Palm Island tensions flare again on claims Submit comment By Peter Michael SENIOR police have flown to Palm Island to try to calm the north Queensland Aboriginal community amid claims of police victimisation. The rising tensions followed a tough new alcohol crackdown and after a police ethical standards investigation cleared two officers who ordered an Aboriginal man to publicly strip to his underwear for a search. Palm Island leaders, elders, Aboriginal lawyers and civil libertarians slammed the findings as "bodgy, utterly unacceptable and a clear breach of police powers". They warned of rising anger among residents who believed they were being unfairly targeted and discriminated against by the tough new grog laws. "People are angry. They feel like there is one law for whites and one for blacks," deputy mayor Raymond Sibley said. "And now with police pulling people up and strip searching them in public, it is getting out of hand." It comes ahead of a high-profile test case involving a Palm Islander, expected to affect hundreds of cases statewide. The case, to be heard on appeal in Townsville Supreme Court in July, revolved around whether the grog laws were racially discriminatory. Father-of-three Charlie Gibson, who was the subject of the strip search last October, filed a complaint to the Crime and Misconduct Commission after he was ordered to publicly disrobe, exposing his genitals in front of women and children. He said he had been publicly humiliated and shamed in front of his people. Officers found no drugs or alcohol in his possession. Ethical Standards Command handed down its findings on May 17, dismissing the complaint as "unsubstantiated" and saying the officers acted lawfully. Assistant Commission Northern Region Paul Wilson and a Brisbane-based Deputy Commissioner flew to the island off Townsville to discuss concerns on Monday. Palm Islanders rioted and burned down the police station in 2004 in the aftermath of the Aboriginal death-in-custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee. Australian Council of Civil Liberties president Terry O'Gorman yesterday called for the CMC to immediately review the police investigation. "Police must take reasonable care to protect the dignity of the person being searched," he said. "It is a flagrant and fundamental breach of police powers, which prohibits that sort of police conduct." Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service chief executive Shane Duffy said he had received complaints of police conducting illegal public strip-searches at Palm Island, Mount Isa and Mackay. Tammy Rasmussen Senior Program Officer Wal-Meta
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