Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 - NSW ...

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Finally, it is clear that the Drug Premises Act has had an impact on young people and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. As we discuss in the following chapter, the Act has also had a clear impact on persons of Asian background in Cabramatta. However, our review of the operation of the Act has not indicated any inappropriate targeting of persons by police. 6.10. Recommendation That consideration be given to the amendment of the statutory defence in section 12 of the Act, to better reflect the circumstances and/or state of mind which a person must prove to make out an adequate defence for being found on, entering or leaving drug premises. NSW Police has advised us that it supports this recommendation. 106 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
Chapter 7. Cabramatta 7.1. Introduction The impetus for the introduction of the Drug Premises Act was to assist police in dealing with drug premises in Cabramatta. In this section of the report, we examine the extent to which the Act has enabled police to do this. Some of the concerns that were raised about the Act in Parliament and other forums specifically related to the possible impact of the law in Cabramatta. One concern was that the use of the Act in Cabramatta would cause the displacement of the drug trade into surrounding areas, and that the drug trade will become more organised and professional in response to the new policing initiatives. Another concern was that young people who are involved in drug premises would be targeted under the Act. Our research findings on these issues will be discussed in this chapter. We will also examine: • the emergence of drug premises in Cabramatta • how the Drug Premises Act has been implemented • the use of the Act upon fortified, non-domestic drug premises, and other types of premises • demographic information, including the age, gender and ethnicity of people who were charged on drug premises in Cabramatta and • evidence relating to the impact that the Drug Premises Act has had on the illicit drug trade in Cabramatta, and the question as to whether the drug trade has been displaced to other areas and • perspectives on the impact of the legislation, including the views of local health professionals, police and community leaders. 7.2. Background 7.2.1. A brief history of the emergence of drug premises in Cabramatta In the late 1990s, it was claimed that significant numbers of drug premises or drug houses burgeoned in the low-rise unit blocks in the streets bordering the Cabramatta CBD. One senior police officer estimated that in late 2000 there were up to forty or fifty drug premises in the Cabramatta area. 565 Particular streets were known by police for the prevalence of drug premises, scattered in amongst residential units and houses. Transactions that had previously taken place in public places, such as street corners and shopping malls, moved to the more private settings provided by flats and houses in the area. For police, the first indicator of this phenomenon had been their observations of processions of people heading from the railway station or the CBD to residential areas adjoining the Cabramatta CBD. They referred to this procession as the ant trail. One senior officer described the journey that was taken from the railway station to drug premises in the following way: They were so blatant, the users would get off the train, predominantly, or from the CBD, and basically talk to someone on the street, “Do you know where I can get on” They’d say, “Go up to [street name], which was a huge area that we were operating in, [street name] was a main thoroughfare for drug premises and you’d watch the ant trail, they’d all walk up, and they’d pass the information on, it continued on and on and on. 566 In a focus group we conducted, police officers from Cabramatta LAC told us that intermediaries often escorted drug purchasers to drug premises from the CBD, or specific locations known for drug supply such as the Railway Station. 567 One police officer described how this practice fitted into the economy of the illicit drug trade: When drug houses were rampant … there would be people, spruikers down the Railway Station and then, he would say, “Yeah, I can help you get on”, and he’d wait until he had five, and then he’d take them for walk to the drug house, and … he’d get his bonus fifty dollar deal for the five customers. 568 565 Interview, former crime manager, Cabramatta LAC, 21 August 2003. 566 Ibid. 567 Focus group, Cabramatta police, 2 July 2003. 568 Ibid. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 107
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Review of the Police Powers (Drug P
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Contents Preface ..................
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Chapter 11. Drug move-on powers in
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Acknowledgements This report was re
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Part One. Background. Chapter 1. In
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Drug offences, unlike for example,
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elieve is in a public place with th
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Chapter 2. Methodology In this chap
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2.3.5. Health data NSP distribution
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As the table indicates, more than o
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2.4.7. Complaints The NSW Ombudsman
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NSW Police advised us that calculat
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Another data limitation is that COP
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Chapter 3. Legislative survey This
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Once police have entered the suspec
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The table below sets out the penalt
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(c) that the nature and extent of t
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The Act contains four additional in
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A fortification removal notice is r
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For example, section 39(3) of the Q
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Part Two. Drug premises Chapter 4.
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In the police training manual on th
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Case study 2. Drug premises search
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4.2.4. Presenting the application b
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A Crime Manager we interviewed from
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applications. In this Act, an inves
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Chapter 5. The definition of drug p
Page 55 and 56: 5.2. Recommendation That Parliament
Page 57 and 58: 5.5.2. Section 11(2)(b): fortificat
Page 59 and 60: In our chapter on Cabramatta, we di
Page 61 and 62: The woman was found guilty of allow
Page 63 and 64: 5.5.5. Means or devices for drug us
Page 65 and 66: Number of Premises Figure 7. Razor
Page 67 and 68: However, no other evidence of drug
Page 69 and 70: • magnum revolver and a 0.357 mag
Page 71 and 72: 5.5.8. Section 11(2)(g): large amou
Page 73 and 74: The magistrate noted that there wer
Page 75 and 76: In relation to the money located on
Page 77 and 78: 5.7.6. Cars as drug premises As we
Page 79 and 80: … rather than being on the edge o
Page 81 and 82: Chapter 6. The Drug Premises Act -
Page 83 and 84: • the offence of being found on,
Page 85 and 86: With reverse onus, we didn’t have
Page 87 and 88: In the following section, we will d
Page 89 and 90: Officers from the State Crime Comma
Page 91 and 92: The second reading speech, which gi
Page 93 and 94: In the granny flat, police found ca
Page 95 and 96: Table 6. Pleas entered and court ou
Page 97 and 98: The magistrate said that he had a r
Page 99 and 100: 13. Allowing use of premises as dru
Page 101 and 102: The defendant says he was not there
Page 103 and 104: Figure 13: Ages of people charged w
Page 105: Table 12. Number of charges for var
Page 109 and 110: No. of Drug Premises Figure 14: Num
Page 111 and 112: Table 13. Information about drug pr
Page 113 and 114: It should be clear that this legisl
Page 115 and 116: The unit was in disarray, with spar
Page 117 and 118: 7.5. Level of drug supply the law i
Page 119 and 120: 7.5.3 Firearms, weapons and high le
Page 121 and 122: 7.6. Charges laid under the Drug Pr
Page 123 and 124: 7.6.4. Young Asian people and drug
Page 125 and 126: Of these 52 people, 31 people pled
Page 127 and 128: 7.8. Conclusion: Impact of the Drug
Page 129 and 130: By way of comment, the continuing a
Page 131 and 132: Chapter 8. Targeting drug supply Pa
Page 133 and 134: Table 18. Drug Misuse and Trafficki
Page 135 and 136: Low level drug suppliers are more l
Page 137 and 138: Other forms of organisation in evid
Page 139 and 140: Table 19. Drugs Located, State-wide
Page 141 and 142: Table 23. Drugs located, Northern R
Page 143 and 144: However, the submission concluded b
Page 145 and 146: To begin with, telephone intercepts
Page 147 and 148: The prohibited drugs that were loca
Page 149 and 150: One factor that appears to have per
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