The Criminal Organisations Control Amendment Bill 2024 contains a number of measures seeking to increase the effectiveness of Victoria’s principal Act for curtailing organised crime. The paper looks into the history of unlawful association laws and outlaw motorcycle gangs, as well as detailing the Victorian developments leading up to the current Bill.

This publication provides a summary of IBAC’s thematic review of a series of Victoria Police internal investigations into incidents involving the use of oleoresin capsicum aerosols (OC spray) by its officers. It indicated that some Victoria Police officers consider that using OC spray is a ‘low level’ type of force.

A key finding from this inquiry is that where police take photographs of people in contexts outside those specific statutory situations, officers must comply with the Privacy Act and the information privacy principles within it, taking into account the status of digital photographs as sensitive biometric information.

In this article, the authors draw on criminological research and analyses of legislation in Australia and a number of international jurisdictions, to argue there is a need for improved regulation of body worn cameras.

The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Federal Police’s framework to ensure the lawful exercise of powers in accordance with applicable legislation.