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

The unit was in disarray, with sparse furnishings. There was little food located within the refrigerator/kitchen cupboards. The
unit could not be described as a normal place of residence. 608
There was also evidence that drugs had been destroyed just prior to police entry to the unit. When police went into the
bathroom, they saw the following:
The grate to the shower waste was broken and the walls and floor of the shower were wet. An inspection of the shower waste
police located a number of plastic bags, similar to plastic bags located in one of the bedrooms. A closer inspection of the
drain pipe, police located a plastic bag containing a quantity of an off white powder. Police will allege that this white powder is
a prohibited drug, cocaine. At the water level inside the drain, police observed two small balloons and a pen which could not
be retrieved. 609
Police also found property that they suspected had been stolen, including mobile phones, watches, and a power tool. Both
occupants, who were Asian males in their twenties, were charged with being found on drug premises. Both were convicted, and
received custodial sentences of three and six months.
7.4.3. Domestic drug premises with fortifications
Of the 34 premises upon which the Act was used over the review period, including domestic and non-domestic drug premises, security
measures were noted in respect of 15 premises. Ten of these were domestic residences.
The type of security measures noted by police on the ten domestic drug premises included:
• a fortified door, and an interior timber door, with a large metal bar across the middle
• a metal security door, and an interior timber door that was blocked off by furniture
• two deadlocks and two chains
• a security screen door with a hole cut in it - police alleged drug transactions were conducted through the hole
• a heavily fortified premises with cream steel mesh on the front door and metal bars on the windows
• the premises were fortified (no further details provided)
• the window and front door were heavily fortified with steel bars
• white steel bars on all windows and doors
• a screen mesh front door with a solid wooden door behind it, windows fortified with steel bars and
• the premises were fortified with a large metal fence with an electronic gate, and there was a secure area at the rear of the
house with security bars surrounding it. 610
7.4.4. Changes in the types of drug premises over the review period
Eight of the 22 611 drug premises identified in the first year of the Act, about 36%, were described as non-domestic. None in the second
year were described as non-domestic. While 11 of the 22 premises in the first year were described as fortified, just four in the second year
of the use of the Act were described in this way.
This suggests that the type of drug premises upon which the Act was used in Cabramatta changed over the review period. Police we
spoke to also considered that this was the case. One Cabramatta detective commented in July 2003:
Now there is a tendency for them [drug premises] to be more domestic. In the first year, all the steel doors, they had a mattress and
that was it, now they are actually living in them. 612
In parliamentary debate on the Act, and other forums, including submissions received to our discussion paper, concerns were expressed
about the application of the Drug Premises Act to premises used for a dual purpose. For instance, while raising concerns about the ability
of a person found on drug premises to prove that they were there for a lawful purpose, one member of the Legislative Council said:
608 COPS event narrative, Cabramatta LAC, Drug Premises Incident 4.
609 Ibid.
610 COPS event narratives, Cabramatta LAC.
611 The Drug Premises Act was used on 24 occasions in Cabramatta in the first year that the Act was in operation, from 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2002 ,
but two of these uses were on cars.
612 Focus group, Cabramatta Police, 2 July 2003.
NSW Ombudsman
Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 115