Tim Dower: Only six cases of excessive force isn't so bad

Remember those protests at Parliament last year, and the incredible scenes at the end? 

Once it was over and the fires were out, and the rocks and broken glass were cleared from the street, police received just over 1900 complaints. 

1900. The largest number of complaints ever about a single policing operation.

Sounds terrible, doesn't it? 1900 complaints... until you dig just a little deeper. 

Most of the people who did complain were nowhere near the protest at the time. 

They either saw it from the comfort of their couches as the whole thing unfolded live on TV or watched it on the news that night. 

Or they read heavily tainted, or even completely made-up crap on social media, and followed the mob to lodge a complaint. 

So out of your 1900-odd complaints just 1% turned out to be worthy of investigation. 

Out of those, police were found to have used excessive force in six incidents. 

Essentially they're about police actions trying to clear the grounds on March 2nd, or put up bollards, or clear streets in the days leading up to the big battle. 

There's a detailed report on the IPCA's website that walks you through each of the clashes that were investigated, and there's a common theme to all of them. 

The cops are either trying to hold back angry demonstrators, or make an arrest, or defend themselves after being thumped or kicked by people who later go on to complain. 

Look, the use of reasonable force by the policed is permitted under the law. 

And the fact of the matter is, if you comply rather than resist, no force is necessary. 

And when you think of the appalling behaviour of that mob, tearing up paving stones, chucking rocks and lumps of wood and human faeces, starting fires... it was a full-blown, bloody, riot. 

So, to come away from that with only six cases of excessive force? Not so bad really. 

There's a lot you can criticise police managers and others for over what happened during the protest and how it got to what it did. 

But the front line, the women and men who were sworn and spat at, and kicked and punched? No. 

End of the day, if you got hurt in that protest, you asked for it. 

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