EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

That was the claim made by a lawyer for gang member Jesse Polock after police placed the 19-year-old on strict bail conditions banning him from the Maroubra beach area when he was arrested for a minor swearing offence.

At Waverley Local Court yesterday, Magistrate Lee Gilmour took less than a minute to dispense with the bail conditions, leaving Polock free to return to Maroubra.

Despite the magistrate's decision, NSW Police yesterday said they would not apologise for their tactics.

 "NSW Police won't tolerate anti-social behaviour by any individuals or groups," a spokesman said.

 "They won't apologise for using whatever powers are appropriate to ensure the community is protected."

Polock, who was mentored by Bra Boy founder and big-wave surfer Koby Abberton, and has recently gained sponsorship as a promising surfer, was arrested and charged with offensive language about 2.30pm last Saturday.

Polock, who has "Bra Boys" tattooed across his shoulders was standing shirtless, drinking a slurpie, with friends on Marine Parade when a car drove by, blaring its horn. Police will allege Polock was heard to yell, "Who the f--k was that beeping the horn".

City Central police, involved in a high visibility operation targeting assaults and violence involving street gangs in the area, arrested Polock.

 He was held at Maroubra police station for three hours, before being granted conditional bail preventing him from entering a zone including Maroubra beach, the home of the Bra Boys.

On the same weekend, tensions flared when riot police were called to a memorial gathering for Bali bombing victims at Malabar when Bra boys turned up.

It is understood another Bra Boy was also charged with a swearing offence earlier on Sunday.

Polock's lawyer Michael Barko told the court the was confident the charge would be withdrawn.

He said the bail condition was "outrageous proof" that police were targeting the Bra Boys.

 "They must have been on some sort of task force and they were executing some sort of zero tolerance policy all weekend," he said. "Clearly they were searching for something to charge.

"Recently I've seen situations where police have applied strict bail conditions on minor offences ... the conditions have then been disposed of and the charge inevitably dismissed."

Leaving court yesterday, Polock said the Bra Boys were being unfairly targeted.