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

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8.5.2. Organised criminal activity at drug Figure 19: Drug premises in NSW, 1 July 2001- 30 June 2003, by premises regions and the State Crime Command As noted previously, there are no clear definitions of what State Crime Region Southern Region Western Region Inner Metropolitan Region Northern Region Greater Metropolitan Region 13% 56% 5% 6% 9% 13% Source: COPS event narratives. 8.5.1. The closure of drug premises It is difficult to determine how many of the 141 drug premises were closed down over the review period. There is evidence to suggest that a small number of drug premises continued to operate after police had taken action against them. In respect of two drug premises, one in the Greater Metropolitan Region 753 and one in the Inner Metropolitan Command, 754 police executed search warrants and laid charges under the Drug Premises Act on two separate occasions over the review period. On another occasion, also in the Greater Metropolitan Region, police proceeded against the occupants of a drug premises twice, at two separate premises. 755 After the first occasion on which police used the Drug Premises Act, the occupants were … would throw the tennis ball from his balcony to the evicted. They then moved to another unit in the same block, and established a second drug premises. About six weeks after the first search warrant was executed, police executed a search warrant at the new premises, and again laid charges under the Act. 756 constitutes an organised criminal. However, there was some evidence that some people who were involved in drug premises were, to varying degrees, organised. This organisation took a variety of forms. A degree of organisation was sometimes evident in the method that was used for conducting drug transactions. In other instances, aspects of drug manufacture or supply operations suggested that a business-like approach had been applied to these illicit activities. Some drug premises also had devices such as CCTV cameras that police believed operated to warn the occupants of their approach. Several premises had police scanners that were tuned to the local police frequency. Fortifications or other devices that police believed were to protect illicit drug activity, ranging from a wire cage over a balcony to pit bull terriers, may also reflect a level of organisation. 757 Other types of organised activity at drug premises related to the way that drug transactions were conducted. One drug supplier in Cabramatta, a sixteen year old male, devised a novel method of conducting drug transactions that involved a coke can and a piece of string. At court, the young person’s lawyer described the methodology employed by his client in the following way: The drug transactions were like something out of a comic movie, lowering - you may remember they were lowering a soft drink tin down from a window on a piece of string as though in some way the Police Service of New South Wales was going to be deluded to think they were selling Coke or something, it’s just laughable, stupid if it wasn’t so serious. That’s the sort of thing my client had got himself involved in. 758 A similar methodology was employed at another drug premises in western Sydney using a tennis ball. According to the event narrative about this incident, the occupant told police that when drug purchasers attended his unit block after a sale had been arranged over the phone, he inserted the “ordered drugs” 759 in the tennis ball, which he had cut a split into and: buyer on the footpath below. The buyer would then remove the drugs from the tennis ball and replace it with money, before returning the tennis ball to the defendant whilst on the balcony. 760 753 Cabramatta LAC, Drug Premises Incidents 3 and 5. 754 Inner Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incidents 1 and 2. 755 Greater Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incidents 25 and 26. 756 Greater Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incident 26. 757 These and other characteristics of drug premises are discussed more fully in the chapter, “Definitions and Types of Drug Premises”. 758 Campbelltown Children’s Court, Police v [defendant’s name], 8 April 2002, p. 2. 759 COPS event narrative, Greater Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incident 28. 760 Ibid. 136 NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001
Other forms of organisation in evidence on drug premises concerned the application of a business like approach to aspects of illicit drug manufacture or supply. This is particularly evident, for example, in a syndicate involved in drug manufacture and supply on the South Coast of NSW, discussed later in this chapter. In other cases, some aspects of the way illicit drug supply was conducted suggested a business like approach had been adopted. For example, at the drug premises mentioned above at which a tennis ball was utilised, several types of drugs 761 and bundles of money were found in a combination safe fitted into the floor of the defendant’s bedroom. The occupant of the premises told police that he placed money from sales of different drug types in the safe, and placed them in separate bundles in order to “segregate the differing amounts of money received for each particular drug type.” 762 Several bundles labelled “Ghosts” and “Hearts”, which are types of ecstasy, were found stashed in pencil cases and other types of containers. Police also found two diaries at the premises, one recorded the drugs that had been supplied to the occupant, and the other recording drugs that had been sold. 763 8.5.3. Supply, manufacture and possession of prohibited drugs Another source of data on the extent to which the Drug Premises Act has assisted police to deal with drug supply is the number of charges laid under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act against people who were involved in drug premises. Over the review period, charges were laid under this Act for offences such as supply, possession and the manufacture of prohibited drugs. The graphs below show the number of charges laid for these types of drug offences in each of the region commands. 764 Several charges were also laid for possession offences under the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966 (Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act) that regulates and controls the supply and distribution of pharmaceuticals and poisons. These charges are also included in the figures for possession charges in the graphs below. Number of Charges Laid Figure 20: State-wide drug charges laid against persons found on drug premises, under the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, and the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act, 1 July 2001 to June 30 2003. 250 200 150 100 50 0 205 Supply 14 Manufacture Possession Type of Drug Offence Cultivation Source: NSW Police Data extracted from the COPS database, July 2003. 132 9 8.5.4. Drug types and quantities of prohibited drugs We have set out below the quantities and types of drugs seized by police on identified drug premises across the state. The main source of this information was event narratives and, for those LACs we audited, search warrant documents. 765 A prohibited drug is any substance included in Schedule 1 of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act. 766 Prohibited drugs found on drug premises include heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and methylamphetamine. A precursor can be defined as a substance “intended ... for use in the manufacture or production” 767 of a prohibited drug. One example of a precursor is pseudoephedrine, which can be used to manufacture prohibited drugs like methylamphetamine. 768 A prescribed restricted substance is a substance that is regulated by the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act, and includes substances like testosterone. 769 The tables show the number of times a particular drug was located, the highest and lowest quantities of each drug type drugs found in each of the five NSW Police regions. 761 According to the event narrative relating to this incident, 580 ecstasy tablets, 11. 4 grams of amphetamines and 52.8 grams of cannabis. COPS event narrative, Drug Premises Incident 23. 762 COPS event narrative, Greater Metropolitan Region, Drug Premises Incident 28. 763 In the Chapter, Definitions and Types of Drug Premises, we discuss other types of documents that police believed were associated with illicit drug manufacture or supply. 764 Drug charges laid by the State Crime Command are included in this data. 765 In respect of those LACs we audited, data on drug quantities and types has been cross checked with descriptions of drugs seized in Property Seizure Exhibit Forms, where they were provided. 766 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, s. 3. 767 Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act, s 24A. A precursor is a substance referred to in Appendix C of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 1994. 768 Precursors are listed in Appendix C of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 1994. 769 The Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1996 regulates and controls the supply and distribution of pharmaceuticals and poisons. NSW Ombudsman Review of the Police Powers (Drug Premises) Act 2001 137
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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
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• magnum revolver and a 0.357 mag
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5.5.8. Section 11(2)(g): large amou
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The magistrate noted that there wer
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In relation to the money located on
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5.7.6. Cars as drug premises As we
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… rather than being on the edge o
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Chapter 6. The Drug Premises Act -
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• 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 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: Low level drug suppliers are more l
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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