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

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