Arabic version: هيئة رقابية تنتقد شرطة إقليم العاصمة الأسترالية بسبب تفتيش خاطئ لمراهق
According to The Guardian, the commonwealth and ACT ombudsman has criticised the Australian federal police after an Indigenous teenager was mistakenly arrested on a Canberra bus and then searched after officers realised he was not the burglary suspect they sought.
The 17-year-old, identified as Jay in the ombudsman’s report, boarded a bus in Woden on the evening of 11 November 2025. ACT police stopped the bus and three officers entered with guns drawn. Jay was taken off the bus at gunpoint, brought to the ground, handcuffed and arrested. Police realised in less than 90 seconds that they had mistaken him for a suspect in an aggravated burglary.
Police released and apologised to Jay, then searched him before he returned to the bus. The report said officers did not ask his name, confirm his age or seek contact details for a family member. Ombudsman Iain Anderson concluded the search was “inappropriately and seemingly unlawfully” conducted after the arrest ended, describing the approach as “a bit staggering”.
Anderson found no evidence that Jay’s Aboriginality led to increased use of force, but said the AFP had no clearly understood definition of “racial profiling”. He also said using “Aboriginal” as a physical descriptor was unhelpful and relied on an outdated, stereotypical physical trait. The report made eight recommendations, including reviewing race as a proxy for physical traits, using objective descriptors and providing clearer guidance for officers overseeing incidents.
The recommendations were accepted. The AFP accepted in principle a recommendation to establish a definition of racial profiling aligned with the Racial Discrimination Act, while saying its professional standards orders were not the appropriate place to include it. An AFP internal investigation found the search breached its code of conduct but said there was no evidence discrimination caused the mistaken arrest. Jay’s family said the report identified serious systemic failures, while ACT chief police officer Scott Lee had previously apologised for the trauma caused.
