EXPERT SAYS POLICE 'HARASSED US'
16.02.1993
LEADING Aboriginal health worker Gracie Smallwood has complained about police harassment at the Hilton Hotel in Brisbane.
Yesterday she accused two police of pushing their way into a room where she and three other women were sleeping on Sunday morning _ her 64-year-old mother, Grace, her niece Charmaine Blackman and a woman doctor friend from Townsville.
Ms Smallwood said one police officer was ""very aggressive'' and the police had to be asked three times to wait outside so the ""one naked woman and three half-naked'' could get dressed.
The allegations were denied by the senior police officer involved, Detective Snr-Constable Kenneth Hogan.
Constable Hogan said Ms Smallwood's mother, who answered their knock on the door, invited them in. He said he was not agressive, although he may have been asked to leave three times ""in the context of three times in five seconds''.
Constable Hogan said that he and his junior constable were given ""mistaken information'' which had caused them to act.
The officers, who wanted to speak to Ms Blackman, had a warrant to search the room. Ms Blackman was a witness to a brawl at the Hilton disco in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Ms Smallwood, who was awarded an Order of Australia last year, was Queensland Aborigine of the Year in 1986, has been a consultant to the World Health Organisation, lectured at Harvard University in the United States and worked with indigenous people overseas.
She has complained to the Hilton management about allowing police to come unannounced to her room and said she would be making official complaints about the police treatment.
The hotel's security chief, John Custance, said: ""We have no control over the police. Normally they would see us, but apparently in this instance they acted of their own accord.''
The four women had gone to the Aboriginal Medical Service Ball at the Hilton on Saturday night. The officers rang the hotel room doorbell at 8am, Ms Smallwood said.
""My mother answered, dressed in her nightdress, half-buttoned because she was expecting a friend,'' she said.
""As my mum came to get Charmaine up, they forced the door and followed her in. I had no sheet on and they said they had a warrant to search our room.
""I said: "You must have the wrong room. None of us are into drugs or anything.' ""They said they were looking for Charmaine and I asked if they could give her time to wake up and freshen up. He just said: "Get dressed'.
Ms Smallwood said Constable Hogan was ""very intimidating _ standing over my bed and telling me to "shut-up' ''.
""Him telling me to shut up _ in my own room with my mother there and other ladies trying to put clothes on to look decent _ we were treated like murderers.
""If there had been a male in the room there would have been dreadful violence because of the police attitude. I woke up to see a big white male detective leaning over the bed.
""I said to get out, that it was my room. He said it wasn't and that the Aboriginal Health Service was paying for it to which I replied that I personally paid. I said to wait outside and told them I would report this to (civil liberties lawyer) Terry O'Gorman.''
""As soon as I mentioned Terry O'Gorman's name and said I had worked for a Minister they went outside.
Constable Hogan said he did not tell any person to ""shut-up'' and the reason he leant over the bed was because Ms Smallwood demanded to see the warrant.
