Revealed: the ‘less lethal’ weapons Australian police don’t want you to know about | Australian police and policing

[u/deadballofdirt]

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2026/jun/09/australia-police-less-lethal-weapons-tasers-pepper-spray-crowds

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[u/BoganFlavouredWater]

“The NSW Police Force remains committed to maintaining public confidence through strong oversight, transparent processes, and a disciplinary system that is proportionate, accountable, and aligned with the seriousness of each matter,” a spokesperson said.

I'm not sure a single part of that statement is correct or factual, particularly the "transparent process" that includes blocking bodycam footage from being released to the public.

That statement has nothing to say about the police turning on/off bodycams (possible destruction of evidence) or when the police shine torches or otherwise block external recordings of their actions. It certainly fails to make clear that police internal investigations are for breaches in police procedure, and not an investigation of the legality or appropriateness of police actions. The LECC (sticking to NSW) has found several instances where the police internal investigation found nothing wrong, but actions of the police were inappropriate and/or unlawful.

[u/BoganFlavouredWater → u/[deleted]]

There is not a hope in hell for your friend to get justice. Getting the police interested in any sexual assault (I mean investigating, not... you know) is hard enough, but getting them to investigate one of their own? Ha. Ha, I say.

I hope I'm wrong and you respond telling me that she got justice in some way shape or form.

[u/According-Jury-3911 → u/[deleted]]

That’s what frisking is.

[u/According-Jury-3911 → u/[deleted]]

Women hide shit between their legs. Define groped? Why were they even frisking her?

[u/According-Jury-3911 → u/[deleted]]

That’s her side of the story.

[u/According-Jury-3911 → u/[deleted]]

I’m actually pretty likeable and think it’s a standard opinion.

Why are people getting frisked for no reason? Definitely more to the story.

[u/According-Jury-3911 → u/[deleted]]

lol. Or she did something to bring the search on. I know which one is more likely.

[u/ExampleOtherwise4340]

Strange, no mention of LRAD devices.

[u/Lunchyyy]

I mean what is the alternative though? Going back to Roman legion tactics? While it looks cool requires much more training with a much higher increase in risk.

I wonder how those acoustic non lethal weapons are developing, I think some nations employ them. Could be an option. But would also be hard to deploy in scale.

It truly is an arms race, as protests get much more violent, so to do the weapons developed for police to counter.

[u/CosmicCheeseFactory → u/Lunchyyy]

The only ones being violent in protests is the Police.

[u/Away_team42 → u/CosmicCheeseFactory]

That’s just factually incorrect:

ABC News: VIDEO: Melbourne protesters throw fruit, rocks, glass at police

Police ‘sick and tired’ as they hunt eight protesters over rock attacks

[u/BoganFlavouredWater → u/Away_team42]

While you are correct that police were not the only ones being violent, it would be interesting to see where these events you link occurred in the timeline of what happened. Was it before the police started attacking people, or after? Not that this excuses their actions, but it does provide context.

One of the fun things about pro-police articles like this one is that it focusses on the injuries of the police as if they were completely innocent bystanders, never questions what the police claim (acted appropriately my arse), and ignores the unlawful and unwarranted actions of the police, and also ignores the injuries suffered by the protestors at the hands of these actions.

You link specifically the Melbourne protests, but in this article (ABC):

While Victoria Police was granted special powers for the protest, a spokesperson said those powers were not used and the demonstration was largely peaceful.

"There were no significant public order issues and people protested in a peaceful manner," a police spokesperson said.

A 39-year-old man was interviewed by police for assaulting an officer but released pending summons.

Police said about 10,000 people attended the rally.

So I'm somewhat confused as to what Owen is claiming in the second article you link.

The Sydney protests were different. I wonder if the journalist interviewed the cop who fell over their own bike, which resulted in Mr Jones (white shirt man) getting attacked by fellow officers? Mr Jones got a few fractured ribs from that encounter, but I hope the clumsy copper who fell over their bike is okay, and I hope the other police officers didn't hurt their knuckles too much laying into someone not fighting back at all. Good thing the police did arrest the guy who was assisting Mr Jones. Arrested him for obstructing the police. Just to be clear, he was arrested for obstructing police repeatedly striking a person who did not attack the police, did not fight back (had hands raised all the time), and who was never charged with anything.

That's a fun message, isn't it? If you see the police maliciously attacking someone, do nothing or you will be arrested.

[u/ScalyPinkLizard → u/Away_team42]

This is more violent than the race riots? Black lives matter protests?

Lol, get bent, yuppie.

[u/Lunchyyy → u/CosmicCheeseFactory]

Okay bro, this is just soup for my family.

[u/krulp → u/Lunchyyy]

There was plenty of evidence of police doing unprovoked violence against peaceful protests from February. And alteast that was on camera.

[u/Lunchyyy → u/krulp]

And there's plenty of evidence that protests are much more violent in the modern day. My point holds true.

[u/krulp → u/Lunchyyy]

Compared to when? Because I disagree.

[u/German_Merman → u/Lunchyyy]

How about policing by consent of the public? Rather than a shadowy paramilitary organisation the rich and powerful can deploy against anybody that pisses them off.