Warning: this article discusses topics that may be distressing to some readers, including self-harm.
A shocking incident involving a guard and a young Indigenous detainee in a Canberra watch house has led the nation's top representative for Indigenous youth to demand greater oversight of the ACT's policing.
In CCTV footage played during a recent ACT Supreme Court hearing, a watch house officer can be heard asking the 17-year-old whether he was thinking of "necking himself" during his intake interview.
When the teenager denied having any such thoughts, the sergeant replied: "Wouldn't have the guts to do it anyway."
The Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, said the incident amounted to "abhorrent misconduct".
“In the context of the horrifying and ongoing epidemic of Aboriginal deaths in custody in this jurisdiction and across Australia, this comment can be seen as a deliberate incitement to an Aboriginal child to end his life," she said in a statement.
"What is even more horrific is the young person is a survivor of forcible removal ... the police interrogation used against this young person by police is shameful."
The CCTV footage shows other officers smirking at their colleague's goading comments, which included jibes at the teenager's history of being placed in care.
When asked in the same interview whether he had parents, the teen replied "Nah."
"No parents? You just magically appeared on the face of the Earth?" the sergeant replied.
A Children's Court had earlier heard distressing details of the youth's traumatic experience in foster homes, where "stuff happened ... which shouldn't happen to a kid."
More footage shows officers later pinning the teenager down in his cell, and leaving him handcuffed there for 45 minutes.
Ms Turnbull Roberts condemned the officers' actions.
"The state-inflicted trauma... would have been compounded by the subsequent unnecessary use of force and then leaving this young person alone handcuffed and distressed in his cell, where he would have known that there was not a single person in that police station who cared about whether he lived or died," she said.
The presiding judge in the ACT Supreme Court hearing, Justice Louise Taylor, referred the footage to the territory's Chief Police Officer.
Ms Turnbull Roberts also independently brought the incident to the attention of the Ombudsman in December last year.
"It was apparently then referred to the Australian Federal Police ... and it seems that nothing has yet been done.
"This inaction shows how designed and broken this system is and how it is failing the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community."
The Canberra Times first reported the distressing incident, and a media representative confirmed to NITV that ACT Policing "have no concerns with the facts ... stated in [the] reporting."
"ACT Policing has actively engaged with the Canberra Times as part of this series of reports and has been open and transparent," said ACT Chief Police Officer Scott Lee in a statement.
"ACT Policing remains committed to being transparent and accountable with the community in responding to any allegations of misconduct.
"I would like to reassure the ACT community that when it is confirmed an officer has not met our high standards then appropriate sanctions are available."
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