Leaked audio reveals Queensland police staff in racist conversations, joking about violence to black people and protesters
Sun 13 Nov 2022
Audio recordings taken at the Brisbane city police watch house reveal officers joking about beating and burying black people, referring to Nigerians as “jigaboos”, and raising fears that Australia “will be fucking taken over”.
A series of tapes, leaked to Guardian Australia by a whistleblower, record several Queensland police service officers using racist slurs and offensive language while working in the holding cells.
The audio – which we have published below – features comments by several watch house officers (a non-policing role) and sworn police. It includes jokes about one officer’s desire to “skull drag” protesters, discussions of fears of “outbreeding” by Muslim immigrants, and, when speaking about African population growth, the comment “let’s just hope Ebola works”.
The recordings were submitted to the state’s commission of inquiry into police responses to domestic and family violence by a watch house officer, Steven Marshall.
Marshall, who gave Guardian Australia consent to publish his name, has worked at the Brisbane watch house for four years and was present during the conversations he recorded.
He says some conversations were about people of colour held at the watch house, including one black detainee being referred to as “a gorilla in the mist” and jokes made about a fellow officer that a female Indigenous detainee “won’t give you a fucking blowjob here”.
Marshall says he is speaking out after being left deeply disturbed by the racist remarks uttered casually in front of staff, and in some cases possibly detainees, in his workplace.
He says that he only complained internally about one of these recordings because he had previously complained about unrelated matters and had “exhausted all options over many years” to hold colleagues to account in relation to these, including lodging internal whistleblower complaints. He says that he felt repeated complaints through formal channels were never taken seriously, and that he had suffered alleged reprisals for speaking up.
Marshall told Guardian Australia that he had worked with “hundreds of good officers” but held serious concerns about the culture of the Brisbane city watch house that allowed some individual officers to use such violent, racist language.
The Queensland police service said in a written response to Guardian Australia the ethical standards command was conducting inquiries into the matter, and would immediately review any previous complaints.
