Police and Smacking, let the games begin

New police guidelines for handling complaints about smacking children are unnecessarily restrictive and remove officers' discretion.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said the guidelines defeated the purpose of an amendment meant to allow police discretion when applying the law, which came into force on Friday.

He said they seemed to have been drafted without consulting frontline supervisors.

"Police work on complaints. Police will not be out patrolling children's playgrounds looking for people smacking their children. It will be when it is brought to police attention that something will be done."
Mr O'Connor said that once a complaint was made, the standard would be the same as for reporting family violence - zero tolerance.
"And it must be reported. And unfortunately, as a result of these guidelines, there is very little discretion. We think the guidelines could have been a little more broad."

The guidelines released by police say people can smack children to prevent or minimise harm to a child but not to punish or correct it.
Parents who do so and who are involved in repetitive smacking incidents may also have their actions recorded by police even if they are not charged, the guidelines say.
Police can use their discretion not to charge if actions are deemed "inconsequential" - but exactly what that means is undefined.
Mr O'Connor said "We believe that they are unnecessarily conservative and restrictive. Any action that is corrective is clearly an offence. We believe there should have been discretion there as to whether that was inconsequential, but it's quite clear in the guidelines that smacking them after they've crossed the road by way of correction or punishment is going to require intervention and prosecution."