Police, Social Media

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (16:55): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing, representing the Minister for Police, on the topic of SAPOL's social media, and media policy and protocol.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: A media release and Facebook post was published on 5 September by SAPOL with an image of a claimed suspect with a request for public assistance to identify the man depicted. He was required in relation to two separate incidents of deception between 14 and 30 July involving 'fraudulently obtaining two laptop computers'.

This post has resulted in many Sikh organisations urging social media users not to make derogatory and racial remarks about the young man. The young man, it turns out, is a 19-year-old Adelaide-based Indian international student. Mr Singh, as he has asked to be known, whose pictures were shared by SAPOL, wishes to be identified by his last name only. He arrived in Australia in December 2019 on a student visa from Punjab.

According to SBS Punjabi, he has attended the police station to explain his 'innocence and ignorance' after SAPOL shared his images. He also submitted to SAPOL approximately 50 screenshots of his work-related communications with a job provider who he now believes has been using him for illegal activities. The young student says he has been tarnished in his small Indian-Australian community, many of whom now believe he has committed a crime. In that interview with SBS he has stated:

It has ruined my life. This news has gone viral within our Sikh and Indian-Australian community. While the police have removed the post, it is still impacting on me and my life. Many people have shared screenshots of the post on social media and WhatsApp.

Only when contacted by SBS Punjabi did a spokesperson for SAPOL actually say on the public record:

We can confirm that investigators have spoken with a 19-year-old man from Edwardstown in relation to two separate incidents of deception between 14 and 30 July.

I understand from the same SBS article that the following day SAPOL took down the media release and Facebook post but not before a number of comments on that Facebook post had to be deleted by SAPOL due to breaches of their standards. Those standards include incredibly large amounts of racist remarks. My questions to the minister are:

1. Why does the SAPOL social media account only delete or amend incorrect information rather than make statements of clarification?

2. What are the protocols for correcting public prejudices when SAPOL publishes images of a suspect who turns out not to have committed a crime?

3. What is the SAPOL social media policy with regard to racist and derogatory comments, and why does it not have measures to edit out incitements to hate before publication rather than a process that deletes them after they have already been published?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (16:59): I thank the honourable member for her three questions and I will refer them to the Hon. Vincent Tarzia, the Minister for Police, Emergency Services and Correctional Services, and seek a response on her behalf.