PARLIAMENT OF NEW SOUTH WALES

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  4. 7 September 2000

Sydney Police Shooting

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SpeakersRhiannon Ms Lee
BusinessAdjournment


    SYDNEY POLICE SHOOTING
Page: 8785


    Ms LEE RHIANNON [6.00 p.m.]: On Tuesday night Mr Eddy Berrio was killed when a New South Wales police officer shot him dead on the corner of Elizabeth Street and King Street. Mr Berrio should be alive today. His parents and other family members should not be grieving his loss. They should not be suffering and distraught with grief. Again New South Wales police have been involved in a shooting with tragic consequences. The passenger with Mr Berrio saw his friend shot dead in front of him. He would have obviously been fearful for his own life. And then there are the police officers. Media reports state that the officer who killed Mr Berrio had just returned to work after being off on stress leave. Now he has killed a young Sydney man. This police officer would be suffering himself. But at least he is alive.

    In the past days as I have read the media reports of the shooting I have been reminded of the terrible winter's day in June 1997 on Bondi Beach when the police shot dead Roni Levi. Thanks to what has become known as the Watterson's team, a team of students and lecturers from the Newcastle university, we have what the Public Interest Advocacy Centre has described as the most extraordinary pieces of investigative legal work that has ever been done here. As a result of their work the Police Integrity Commission was convinced to open up a wide-ranging inquiry which exposed allegations that police may have taken drugs on the night before the Roni Levi shooting and then instituted a cover-up. Most importantly, they showed that the Bondi police commander had contravened regulations by holding a press conference only hours after the shooting, declaring that Levi had lunged at police with his knife and that this could have influenced witnesses' perceptions of the Levi killing. Those thoughts were with me when I read the press reports.

    Each year Australia averages about six people killed by the police. Between 1990 and 1997 around Australia 41 people were shot by police officers, nearly half in public places or carparks. This was the case with Roni Levi and Mr Berrio. The latest police shooting raises the question: Should New South Wales beat police be armed? It is interesting that the New South Wales police commissioner comes from a country where police are not armed. On behalf of the Greens I extend my condolences to Mr Eddy Berrio's family and friends, who have suffered a great loss. Mr Berrio should be with you today. The Greens have a responsibility, we believe, to ensure that other innocent people are not killed by New South Wales police.

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