‘For now we see through a glass, darkly’ Using police data to scrutinise the use, effect and effectiveness of Australia’s police-imposed patron banning provisions

Clare Farmer1
1Deakin University, Waurn Ponds, Geelong, Australia

Each jurisdiction collates police-imposed banning data and manages its access. This presentation examines the data that is available to assess what it reveals about the use of the provisions, and to establish the extent to which Australian jurisdictions monitor their own data. Overall, while patterns of use can be discerned and limited findings are evident, the particular effect or effectiveness of banning cannot be isolated from the data. Despite the enthusiasm with which police banning provisions have been implemented, there is little evidence of its proactive monitoring. Police banning powers in Australia are currently subject to minimal oversight and no meaningful scrutiny. This has wider implications for individual rights, community safety, and the ongoing development of measures to address issues of alcohol-related violence and disorder.


Biography:
Dr Clare Farmer is a Lecturer in Criminology at Deakin University. Her research interests, and associated publications, include sentencing policy and practice, discretionary powers to punish, and the balance between individual rights and broader community expectations/needs. Police-imposed patron banning provisions operate across Australia to manage and minimise harms arising from alcohol-related disorderly behaviours. Their implementation is framed around presumptions of need, effect and effectiveness. However, there has been little scrutiny of the ways in which police banning mechanisms are used, and no meaningful analysis of their effect.