This manual is a resource for lawyers who act for clients who experience police misconduct and racism. While this manual is primarily directed at criminal defence lawyers including those who deal with fines, it will be useful to all lawyers and judicial officers who work on police issues in civil, discrimination, and coronial legal practice.

Challenging racial profiling and unlawful police practice through lawyering is hard work. Police resist challenges to their everyday practices, court processes are designed to encourage guilty pleas and the Australian judiciary is not consistently used to thinking about racism and human rights from the perspective of policed people. And yet in the absence of an effective, independent police complaint system, criminal defence and other forms of police accountability litigation remains the only mechanism for ensuring police are held to account. This training manual is designed to give practitioners the tools and support needed to assist in developing the common law in Victoria to better identify racial profiling and protect human rights.

This training manual is divided into several parts. The first three sections contain information about police powers in relation to:

1. Stop, Question and Search;

2. Arrest and the Use of Force and

3. Racial Profiling.

These sections have links to cases, legislation and parts of the Victoria Police Manual that you can use in arguing your cases. The fourth section is a practical evidence gathering page, the fifth contains links to more resources, the sixth section contains information about working with the media. The final section - available to workshop attendees only - contains a workshop outline and resources for a mock trial run in the workshop. If you are interested in attending a workshop or you have any feedback or suggestions please email Tamar at:

Your feedback and suggestions are welcome.

This manual is written and designed by Tamar Hopkins and is a project of the Centre Against Racial Profiling.

Thank you to Inner Melbourne Community Legal, Victorian Law Foundation, UNSW, Police Accountability Project, Victoria Legal Aid.