Queanbeyan police are using a controversial NSW Police watch list which disproportionately targets young people and Indigenous people.
A report by the Youth Justice Coalition NSW criticised the NSW Police's Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP), a secretive statewide program which predicts the likelihood of a person committing a crime in the future.
A Queanbeyan magistrate said he had seen cases involving people on the plan for drug related or driving related offences and NSW Police have confirmed the Monaro LAC uses the program.
Vicki Sentas from the Redfern Legal Centre Police Powers Clinic is one of the authors of the report, Policing Young People in NSW.
"[It's a] crime prevention program that targets people, both adults and young people, who have committed offences in the past as well as people who may not have committed offence but police otherwise may think they might commit a crime," Ms Sentas said.
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People on the list cannot know if or why they are on the plan. Ms Sentas was concerned that simply by being on the list, young people would be more likely to interact with NSW's criminal justice system contradictory to existing laws to divert young and Indigenous people away from punitive measures.
The report found of the number of persons on the plan of 10 combined local area commands in the 2014/15 financial year, 44 per cent were Aboriginal, with 48.8 per cent under 25 and the youngest person on the list being an 11 year old child in the Orana LAC.
"They have stopped and searched people on the STMP without having a lawful basis," Ms Sentas
"For many young people on the STMP who predominantly don't commit violent offences ... [it] might generate more offences ... like swearing at police because of the frustration of being constantly under police attention."
ACT Policing said they had a standard police to police information sharing practice with NSW Police but don't access the plan.
"We do not have access to NSW Police Force's Suspect Targeting Management Plan (STMP) nor are we sent lists of suspects," a spokesperson said.
No data is available on the Monaro LAC's usage of the list but Queanbeyan magistrate Michael Antrum said he had seen documents tendered by prosecutors which indicated defendants were on the plan.
The offences they were being charged for were normally drug related or driving related offences, such as theft or driving whilst disqualified.
"I've not had any submissions that the STMP in of itself is unlawful," Mr Antrum said.
"I'm aware from facts that are sometimes tendered by the prosecution and with the consent of the defendant that the defendant may be one of the suspect targets."
"Like any reasonable Australian, I'd be concerned if there was an undue number of young people coming before the court ... this court, like all courts in NSW, are encouraged within the children's jurisdiction to focus on rehabilitative aspects."
The reasons how one may be listed on the plan is a secret but Ms Sentas and her fellow researchers have found an algorithm categorises people on their likelihood to offend, ranging from low risk to extreme.
"Those risk categories might include prior criminal history, it might include notifications around family violence or other issues. We don't know because we haven't seen the policy," she said.
The report calls on NSW Police to make the methods and data behind the plan public.
