Police grabbed me for “walking with the intent of committing a crime” — I was running for a piss! | Pat’s story about being stopped regularly
Pat is a gay Aboriginal man with bipolar. He shares what it’s like to get caught with drugs and then be noticed by police for the rest of his life.
UN: What's your experience of being questioned by police in the street?
Pat: Mate, I've been approached by the police so many times over my lifetime. But I’ve only been caught with something on me twice. I’ve lived in Glebe for the last 17 years, and for the first 12 of those I was dependent on crystal methamphetamine and was definitely a bit of a rough character, but I don’t think I was a bad person or a real criminal. I have now stopped using drugs except for cannabis and on special occasions I’ll use some GHB and crystal. And I’m a different person now but I still often get pulled over and searched when I’m doing nothing wrong— it is really frustrating!
UN: Why do you think police target you?
Pat: I’m a rough looking man and I’m Aboriginal. I’m gay but you could put me in a pub in Blacktown and I’d look heterosexual. I’m a north Queensland bloke who was brought up on cane farms. I’ve got scars all over my body. I don't iron my clothes. I wear steel cap boots or go bare foot.
I have false teeth and so when police talk to me, I’m trying to keep my mouth in place, and it looks like I have a tick. I’ve got Band-Aids on my fingers, and I have a rash. I guess to some people I look like a stereotype of a person who uses drugs.
One time I had heaps of mosquito bites and police said “Mate, don’t you think you need to get off the shit?”.
I also go out walking at 3am with my dog because I have bipolar and usually only get 4 hours sleep. I get stopped and they say, “Look at your eyes, they’re bloodshot”.
I say “Mate, I’ve just woken up”.
They say, “No one’s up at this hour unless you’re on something, so what are you taking?”
Once, they justified searching me by saying “Normal people don’t walk around with no shoes on”. I was in my dressing gown and boxer shorts, and they made me hold my crutch and give it a jiggle to see if any drugs fell out.
UN: What are some of your worst experiences?
Pat: One night about 6 years ago, I had gone and picked up off a dealer and was walking home from the train station. I was busting to go to the toilet. I'm a fast walker normally, but I was going even faster. A police van came up next to me, and 10 officers got out, grabbed me, and asked, “Where are you going!”. I said, “I've got to go the toilet, what are you stopping me for?”. They said I was “Walking with the intent of committing a crime”. It’s crazy that all they need to justify a search is for you to look unusual and be walking fast. They brought me to tears. It’s not fair. I'm a good bloke.
I got caught with 10ml of GHB and got a $110 fine and a good behavior bond. I got lucky— if I had 11ml it would have been classed as dealing. I stopped using G after that for a while, but have now gone back to occasional use of crystal and G.
Funny story — the night I got caught with G, they didn't strip search me because when they asked what I had and I said, “Just some G... because I’ve had a really fucked day and I'm gonna go home and get fisted!”. That got them to back away. Which was lucky, because otherwise they would have found all my crystal!
Soon after that, I gave up crystal... but not because I got caught. I had no intention of stopping and then one day my cat suddenly passed away in her sleep. I was at my dealers having an amazing time and my partner at the time was at home with a dead cat on his lap and he kept trying to call me to get me to come help. I felt so bad about not being there for my cat—or my partner—so I gave up using that day.
After I’d given up crystal, I still got pulled over on the footpath about 4-5 times a month. One day I was searched 3 times just walking 5 blocks! I reckon I got stopped about 150 times in the first 3 years.
Early on, I didn't mind because I knew I was known as a crystal user, and yeah, like it or not, it’s illegal. But then after about a year, and once I had started to build a different reputation in the neighborhood, I started to get more frustrated. It really sucked when they strip searched me in front of our local pub in Glebe. Lots of my acquaintances were in the pub and they judged me.
Eventually the police started to know me and stopped harassing me as much, but then there was a turnover of the local police, and I started getting stopped again. It sucks for me, but it’s also just such a massive waste of police resources.
UN: How regularly do you get picked up? Did this change during the COVID lockdowns?
Pat: During the COVID lockdowns of 2021 I went out 15 times and got stopped 12 times. Mostly I was just going to the supermarket and back. One day I got done twice because the shift changed!
I was getting sick of police pulling me over, so I got a doctor to write a letter to the Glebe Police Station’s LGBT Police Liaison Officer. It said “This man has bipolar, and he doesn't like wearing thongs. Let your officers know this man is doing no wrong”.
UN: How long has it been going on?
It‘s been personal since 1999. I told family at a Christmas gathering that I had HIV, and my sister, a police officer, said “You’re nothing but a dirty drug-taking poofter that’s got AIDS. Get away from the family, don’t try to contact us.” My family hasn't spoken to me since. In those days I was only smoking a bit of pot!
UN: Have you had any positive interactions with police?
Some of the older police officers know the good I’ve done, and they commend me for the positive changes I’ve made.
UN: Can you tell us about the other time you were caught with something?
Pat: About 13 years ago, I was driving around a “friend” and we got pulled over by police and he hid a small bag of speed under my seat without me realizing it. Luckily the only penalty I got was a good behaviour bond.
UN: What do you do when you get stopped?
Pat: Nowadays, when I see police coming, I just automatically empty my pockets and take off my shoes.
They ask my name, and my record comes up and they hassle me about it.
I say, “I live here, this is my name, I've got nothing, everything is on the ground”.
I just try and answer questions honestly and truthfully and get it over and done with and move on.
I usually have a bit of cannabis on me, but I never usually carry that much. I’m a known pot smoker, but I never get hassled for pot. They’re generally just searching for GHB and meth. They see the pot and don’t even worry about it. That’s happened about 10 or 11 times. Maybe it helps that I’m honest with them about having pot, and only have a small amount on me.
I say, “Look guys, I’ve stopped using crystal and alcohol, but I still have a dependence to pot, and my GPs and psychiatrist know. You can charge me, but it won’t do anyone any good.”
UN: What do you do if you get caught?
Pat: When I was caught with GHB, they asked me where I got stuff from. I said, “I go on a tram and wait.” They tried to intimidate me into getting into my phone apps, but I didn’t let them because I knew my rights.
Eventually, the police handed me a piece of paper—an infringement notice—that said when I needed to go to court. I got a court-appointed legal aid lawyer.
I was embarrassed about going to court, so I turned up without telling anyone else I knew. The judge wanted me to get letters from people saying how good they thought I was, and I didn't know anyone I could ask.
I still don't know anywhere to go to if I get caught. There's not much information for people, especially for people in housing estates. People don’t know the penalties for what they’re carrying around. People need to know the limits of how much you can possess — that should be out there on posters! [Editor’s note: We’ve just published a new guide: What are the penalties for possessing different weights of drugs in NSW?]
People also don’t know what to say if they get stopped. I don’t know what all my rights are. Do they have a right to go through my phone? I know I break the law but I’m not a big law breaker, and they see me get timid and that’s when they puff up their chest to intimidate me.
I also don’t know any legal aid for people who are on government subsidies.
UN: Have you ever tried to film or record being stopped?
Pat: I have only filmed other people being policed. When they are searching me, my phone is on the ground.
UN: What do you think the impact of all this policing is on you and the broader community?
Pat: Police want us to respect them, but where’s the respect for us? When I have proved over and over that I'm not who they're after, it is hard to respect them.
It's like they're trying to collect numbers to reach a quota. Before COVID, during Mardi Gras I dressed up in leather — hardly unusual at a queer event — and was stopped and asked, “What drugs are you on?”
When crime happens in Glebe, they come knock on my door asking me for help! Why would you want my help when you have previously stereotyped me as an untrustworthy drug user? I don’t want to help; I want to get far away from the police.
It means I don't go out as much. And I don’t go out with other people—even my partner—because I don’t want them to have to get stopped too. It’s so annoying going from having a good day to having a police car go past you and then wonder, “Are they going to drive around the block and pull me over?”.
UN: If you could say one thing to decision-makers, what would you say?
Pat: I think there should be more info available to all communities that have drugs around. For example, fact sheets on how to use safely, and legal info about how much I can possess before I get in serious trouble, what happens if I get caught, and what are my rights? I don’t know how far police can go and what for. For a bipolar person who can’t read, it would be nice to have a visual thing to say: “This is step 1, step 2, step 3”.
I’m sick of having to prove I’ve made changes in my life and they’re acting on old information. Currently, when the police search your name in their police reports system, it shows all the things you’ve been caught doing. What about it brings up all the good things? — “Here’s Pat’s community-service award”.
Police verbally abuse and harass us. If the police want us to respect them, they should show us respect first. Don’t say “What are you up to?” say, “Hey guys, how are you going?”. Don't jump to conclusions, because people can change.
If you want a community to work together, people at the top need to show respect to people on the bottom rungs. When you try to change your life and it is not rewarded, it really makes you feel like they only want to see the bad in people. It sucks that once you’re labelled with something you can’t break that label, no matter what changes you make.
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