Collins Judith: Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Collins Judith: Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill — First Reading Second Reading In Committee 
[Sitting date: 16 August 2011. Volume:675;Page:20848. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
Hon JUDITH COLLINS (Minister of Police) 
: 
 I move  
That the Policing (Storage of Youth Identifying Particulars) Amendment Bill be now read a first time. 
 This bill amends the Policing Act 2008 to restore the legal position under the Police Act 1958 in relation to the storage of youth identifying particulars—that is fingerprints and photographs taken by the police. That legal position was not intended to be altered by the Policing Act 2008 but that in fact is what happened. 
When the Policing Act 2008 was passed it was assumed that the legal situation relating to the police’s ability to retain the identifying particulars of youth was carried over from the Police Act 1958. In developing the Policing Act 2008 no policy decision was made to change this provision. However in 2010 police became aware that the wording of section 34 of the Policing Act 2008 which deals with the storage of identifying particulars by police was much narrower than the Police Act 1958 in respect of youth. 
The Policing Act 2008 as it currently stands allows police to retain youth identifying particulars only in circumstances where a conviction is entered and an order made that the young person be brought before a District Court for sentence or decision. Under the current legislation police can retain no more than about 50 sets of identifying particulars of young offenders per year. The current wording prevents police from retaining up to 1200 sets of identifying particulars per year for youth who have a charge proved in the Youth Court and for whom an order is made by a judge. Those orders range from a discharge right through to supervision with residence. This change was an unintended consequence of drafting. If this unintended situation is not remedied police will continue to be unable to retain the identifying particulars for these young offenders and any future reoffending by the same people will be more difficult to detect. 
Identification of young repeat offenders is a key tool to assist police to prevent future offending to stop offending growing in severity over time and to provide reassurance to victims. This bill seeks to rectify the situation through an amendment to the Policing Act 2008 to reflect the position provided for by the Police Act 1958 in relation to the police’s ability to retain the identifying particulars of youth. As the change to the legal position relating to youth identifying particulars was unintended police were not immediately aware of the change and as a consequence continued to retain youth identifying particulars that should technically have been destroyed over a period of 2 years from the introduction of the Policing Act in October 2008. In good faith police have now destroyed all those identifying particulars. 
Under the current legislation a person could potentially challenge a conviction that was based on evidence from improperly retained fingerprints. This process in itself could be a time-consuming and costly process. Such an appeal may also lead to victims feeling re-victimised. Also the safety of those convictions could be placed in doubt and result in potential challenges and further stress for victims. Such ongoing challenges are not in the public interest. Neither is it in the public interest to undermine confidence in the criminal justice system by failing to recognise the impact on victims if young offenders are not brought to account. In order to minimise the negative effects of potential challenges the bill’s amendments are to be retrospective to October 2008. That is also why I requested that the bill be progressed under urgency. 
This Government is keen to ensure that young offenders are apprehended face the consequences of their actions and have interventions put in place to help stem any risk of their reoffending in the future and becoming more serious criminals. We are equally determined to ensure satisfaction for the victims of crime. This bill seeks to rectify the impact of an unintentional legislative change that occurred during the drafting of the Policing Act 2008 and to restore the ability of police to retain the identifying particulars of young offenders as originally intended. On that basis I commend this bill to the House.