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

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The woman initially denied knowing the man who had thrown the bag over the fence. However, while police were questioning her inside the house, “she was seen to attempt to hide a pair of mens shoes by pushing them under a lounge.” 637 The woman later admitted that the man had been living in her house for several weeks. She said that he was from Cambodia, and she only knew him by his first name. Police note that they found a small number of items allegedly belonging to the man, including a suitcase indicating that it had been brought back to Sydney from an overseas destination several weeks ago. 638 In their search of the house, police found a coffee grinder, a heat-sealing machine, $5,000 cash and packaging similar to that found inside the bag that was found in the neighbour’s yard. Police also found a pair of women’s platform shoes that had substantial quantities of heroin inside them. In the event narrative, the outcome of tests run on the platform shoes is outlined: On [date], a pair of ladies platform shoes were examined by AGAL. 639 Each shoe was found to contain a further 360 grams each of heroin. These shoes were one of the items seized on [date]at [address]. The shoes were wrapped in a green coloured plastic shopping bag and then wrapped in masking tape. The drugs were concealed in the sole of the shoe which is approximately three inches thick. The sole had been hollowed out. The shoes are black in colour and labelled “THE FASHION BRAND”. Customs have been spoken with and they have informed police that this method is becoming extremely common recently. 640 At the conclusion of the event narrative, police made the following assessment of the premises: Police claim that these premises are drug premises for the following reasons. 1) Shot Fired Into Them on [date] 2) Amount of Drugs Disposed of and Located 3) Packing equipment located inside 4) $5000.00 cash located inside 5) Firearm disposed of with drugs 6) Fortifications to the premises 641 The woman was charged with allowing her premises to be used as a drug premises. At the time of writing, the matter has not yet been heard at court, and the man who threw the bag over the fence had not been located by police. 7.5.4. Items found in drug premises in Cabramatta According to section 11(d) of the Drug Premises Act, drug premises may be defined by syringes or other means or devices used in the supply, manufacture or use of a prohibited drug. As the graph shows, drug packaging was the most common item that is associated with drug supply found on drug premises in Cabramatta. Drug packaging includes foil, balloons and plastic resealable bags. Number of premises Figure 16: Items found on drug premises in Cabramatta Item Found Item Not Found 40 1 1 35 12 9 16 36 4 36 6 33 30 31 28 25 25 20 21 15 10 5 0 Syringes Scales Drug Packaging Cutting Agent Type of Item Razors Heat Sealing Machine Documents Source: COPS event narratives and search warrant documents 637 COPS event narrative, Cabramatta LAC, Drug Premises Incident 36. 638 Ibid. 639 AGAL is the Australian Government Analytical Laboratory. Police send suspected prohibited drugs to AGAL for analysis. 640 COPS event narrative, Cabramatta LAC, Drug Premises Incident 36. 641 Ibid. 120 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
7.6. Charges laid under the Drug Premises Act in Cabramatta 7.6.1. A brief overview Police in Cabramatta laid a high proportion of the total number of charges laid under the Drug Premises Act in NSW over the two year review period. The table to the right shows the number of charges laid for each of the key offences in Cabramatta, and the total number of charges laid for each of these offences in all other LACs. Thirty-seven per cent (37%) of the charges laid State-wide over the review period for being found on, entering or leaving drug premises were laid in Cabramatta, and about 20% of the charges for the other two key offences in the Drug Premises Act. As noted earlier in this chapter, 59 of the 118 people who were charged on drug premises in Cabramatta were charged with a drug premises offence only, and were not charged with any drug offences, such as possession or supply, under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act. In this section, we will discuss concerns that innocent people found on drug premises might be charged, and then have difficulties proving their innocence. We will also discuss concerns that particular groups, such as young people, might be targeted in the enforcement of the Drug Premises Act. We will also set out data on the demographic characteristics of those who were charged under the Act. 7.6.2. Concerns raised about the application of the Drug Premises Act Particular concerns were raised about the use of the Act on domestic drug premises, and the possibility that innocent people that were found on drug premises, such as flatmates, children or spouses, may be charged. Our examination of police documents relating to uses of the Act in Cabramatta revealed that police often, though not always, charged all the people they found on drug premises. In some cases, this meant that police charged up to seven people who were on the premises when the warrant was executed. Charging all persons present is clearly appropriate if police believe that the place is a drug premises, and that none of those present had a lawful purpose or excuse for being there. According to the former Crime Manager at Cabramatta, one reason why police tended to charge all people on fortified, non-domestic premises in Cabramatta was because of the reverse onus, 642 and because of the nature of the place and the fact that police believed the drug related activity taking place on the premises was obvious. But, like the other officers at Number of Charges Laid Figure 17: Number of drug premises charges laid in Cabramatta and all other LACs in NSW, 1 July 2001 to 30 June 2003 250 200 150 100 50 0 81 139 Cabramatta local area command Other local area commands in NSW 13 53 Being found on, entering or Organising, leaving Drug conducting or assisting Premises Drug Premises Key Drug Premises Offences Source: Data extracted from the COPS database. 22 86 Allowing premises to be used as Drug Premises Cabramatta we spoke to, the former Crime Manager also noted that police exercised discretion in instances in which it was clear that the person on the drug premises was an “orange in a bunch of apples”. 643 In our focus group with Cabramatta police, officers discussed how decisions to charge people are made after police enter premises. We also sought their views on the concern that innocent people found on drug premises may be charged. One officer pointed to the various safeguards that exist in the execution of search warrants, and in the process of deciding whether to charge particular people. He said there were a number of safety barriers in how warrants are executed: You’ve got the Independent Officer who will give advice to the people, the sergeant who took the warrant out will give advice to the people doing it, and then you’ve got to go back to the station and get that charge approved for a sergeant of police to say, “Yeah, OK, we’ll allow that charge”, so there’s a number of safety factors before that person actually gets charged. 644 Another officer said that he believed there hasn’t been too many mums, or grandmas and grandchildren locked up under the Drug Premises Act. 645 In the 80 court transcripts we examined relating to people charged under the Act in Cabramatta, there was no evidence to suggest that people appeared to have been charged inappropriately. As we have noted elsewhere, a number of people pleaded guilty to the charges laid against them. The guilty plea itself may be taken 642 The operation of the “reverse onus” in relation to two drug premises offences is discussed in the Chapter on “Offences in the Drug Premises Act”. 643 Interview, former crime manager, Cabramatta LAC, 22 August 2003. 644 Focus group, Cabramatta police, 2 July 2003. 645 Ibid. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 121
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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
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5.2. Recommendation That Parliament
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5.5.2. Section 11(2)(b): fortificat
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In our chapter on Cabramatta, we di
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The woman was found guilty of allow
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5.5.5. Means or devices for drug us
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Number of Premises Figure 7. Razor
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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 and 106: Table 12. Number of charges for var
Page 107 and 108: Chapter 7. Cabramatta 7.1. Introduc
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: 7.5.3 Firearms, weapons and high le
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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