Phillip S,
You are right, the police discription reeks of political correctness.

The victim must have got a good look at them if she put an age on them, so why the vague reference to their ethnicity. Maybe she heard an accent as well.

How can the public help the police if there is only half a discription of the suspects provided.

The police in victoria and the Fairfax press seem to be the ones not providing adequate discriptions, so am a bit surprized at the ABC and the attack occured in Sydney.

Phillip S,
It appears that the ABC copied the Police media release verbatum, so they are not to blame in this instance.

It may be an idea to complain to the NSW Police about the inadequacy of the discription. Afterall the victim gave a discription of the clothing the attackers wore.

http://www.police.nsw.gov.au/news/latest_releases?sq_content_src=%2BdXJsPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGd3d3LmViaXoucG9saWNlLm5zdy5nb3YuYXUlMkZtZWRpYSUyRjI3MjM0Lmh0bWwmYWxsPTE%3D

Since the kid had her in a headlock and headlocks are typically engaged while standing behind the victim it's likely she may have only seen the colour of the skin on his arms and hands.
However....
PC is a set of religious beliefs,like all religions it requires that it's believers say certain phrases and refrain from saying others, to an adherent of PC even allocating a race to an individual or making an assumption that they belong to a certain group is to commit the sin of "othering".
Senior Police and public servants either believe in the religion of PC or they choose the road of least resistance for the sake of their career prospects, this is why we had assertions from Victoria Police that they kept no detailed statistics on a criminals race and ethnicity only to have them admit later that they did keep such information but that it was to be kept under lock and key. This is exactly the same as the Vatican keeping the records of the Inquisitions secret lest they fall into the wrong hands and undermine the authority of the church, if the real picture of crime broken down by race and ethnicity were to be known it could undermine the church of PC and cause people to question the authority of the state.

I think people are reading far too much into the ‘dark skin tone’ quote. This description was issued by the police BASED on a description given to them either by witnesses or by the victim. Obviously, if neither described the attacker as appearing to be of asian, African or middle eastern appearance, then the police themselves have little to go on. The issuance of the description is standard procedure. For all we know, the culprit may simply have spent too much time in the sun.

I don’t think we need (on this board, at least) to assist the media in their frenzied efforts of rumour-mongering and innuendo.

More relevant is the denouncement of such attacks by any person of any ethnicity. That is the issue here, not the colour of their skin.

Philip has an underlying agenda, but first he wants someone else to suggest it.

579 Quote "has an underlying agenda, but first he wants someone else to suggest it." Please read comments before putting your foot in your mouth with such a reply.

You would have clearly seen I wrote "it sounds like they are saying black like African." SO IF i WROTE THAT HOW COULD I BE WAITING FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO SUGGEST WHAT I HAVE ALREADY SAID.

Later I did ask what came to mind when others read the description with such a vague description it is a valid reason for asking such a question.