The Queensland Police Service (QPS) has formally discontinued the use of safety hoods in all watchhouses across Queensland.
Following a QPS review into the use of the safety hoods, also known as ‘spit hoods’, Commissioner Katarina Carroll made the decision to immediately discontinue their use on September 16, 2022.
Although rarely used, safety hoods were applied to persons in watchhouse custody as a barrier to prevent officers from being spat on or bitten and potentially being exposed to transmittable diseases.
They were introduced in Queensland in 2009 with policies and procedures outlining the certain circumstances in which they could be used. They could only be applied by trained staff with their use reported and overviewed by senior officers.
The safety hoods were used on 138 occasions between 2015 and 2022, equating to 0.04 per cent of the total number of persons in police custody during this period.
The QPS acknowledged concerns raised by the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner and the Queensland Family and Children’s Commission over the continued use of safety hoods and conducted a thorough review into the matter.
The increased availability of PPE for officers and watchhouse staff and the ability to segregate prisoners were considered as part of the review.
Safety hoods are no longer used in the majority of other policing jurisdictions in Australia.
Commissioner Katarina Carroll said the decision to discontinue their use was made following extensive consultation with Queensland Police Union of Employees, other policing jurisdictions and a range of other government agencies.
“The QPS is committed to enhancing our practices to ensure we are delivering high quality policing services to the community we proudly serve,” Commissioner Carroll said.
“We recognise there are community concerns around the application of safety hoods in police watchhouses and we undertook an extensive review of the issue before formally discontinuing their use.
“While safety hoods served a purpose to protect staff, they were very rarely used in our watchhouses.
“The QPS will implement a number of safety measures in watchhouses including increased PPE, additional protective screens and rolling out new operational skills training program for watchhouse staff.”
